COVID 19: A Cause for Pause in Undergraduate Medical Education and Catalyst for Innovation

Abstract

As the world held its breath for news surrounding COVID-19 and hunkered down amidst stay-at-home orders, medical students across the U.S. wondered if they would be called to serve on the front lines of the pandemic. Medical school administrators faced the challenge of protecting learners while also minimizing harm to their medical education. This balancing act raised critical questions in medical education as institutions reacted to changing guidelines. COVID-19 has punctuated already contentious areas of medical education and has forced institutions and organizations to take quick action. From the perspectives of a recent medical school graduate and current resident (ES) and a practicing clinician-educator (SHG), we examine the pandemic's impact on undergraduate medical education through an ethical lens. First, we explore the value of medical education, what drives this value, and how COVID-19 may alter it. We next consider student choice and how shifts toward utilitarianism in healthcare during a pandemic may affect learning and career exploration. Then, we inquire how access to technology may impact the experience of medical students from diverse backgrounds and varied institutions during a rapid shift to socially distanced learning. We identify vulnerabilities for students at several phases of the journey: premedical, preclinical, clinical, and preparation for residency. Finally, we address the hidden curriculum of COVID-19, its potential erosion of empathy among current medical students, and possible long-term consequences for future physicians and patients.

A qualitative analysis of third-year medical students’ reflection essays regarding the impact of COVID-19 on their education

“…Second-year students reported the negative impact that remote learning had on their preparation and training, particularly with regards to the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 examination and learning clinical skills [ 13 ]. Clinical educators fear that socially distant learning processes and specialty selection will have long-lasting impacts on students’ skills, empathy, and career development [ 14 ]. However, many editorials also illustrate educators’ desires to find a “silver lining” in the chaos, such as the benefit of virtual learning platforms and telehealth, the necessity of integrated public health education, and students’ extraordinary display of adaptability [ 5 , 9 , 16 ].…”

Towards an Open Medical School without Checkerboards during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How to Flexibly Self-Manage General Surgery Practices in Hospitals?

“…The student-instruction interaction should be protected on-site, as it is connected to the empathetic capacity with its long-term consequences in the physician-patient relationship. There is a need for a current humanistic medicine approach in clinical and academic students training that can be developed face-to-face in the hospital in particular [ 47 ].…”

Teaching medical microbiology during the COVID-19 pandemic: perceptions of medical undergraduates and the effects of online learning

“…The ndings of our study are relevant for faculties and decision-makers in medical education, primarily, but not limited to, medical microbiology. Despite its largely devastating effects, the pandemic can be seen as a "catalyst of change" that also incited innovation, especially pertaining to (digital) education [27].…”