scholarly journals Effectiveness of Virtual Medical Teaching During the COVID-19 Crisis: Systematic Review

10.2196/20963 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. e20963
Author(s):  
Robyn-Jenia Wilcha
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Clinical Teaching ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Medical Teaching ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Virtual Teaching

Background In December 2019, COVID-19 emerged and rapidly spread worldwide. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is high; as a result, countries worldwide have imposed rigorous public health measures, such as quarantine. This has involved the suspension of medical school classes globally. Medical school attachments are vital to aid the progression of students’ confidence and competencies as future physicians. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, medical schools have sought ways to replace medical placements with virtual clinical teaching. Objective The objective of this study was to review the advantages and disadvantages of virtual medical teaching for medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the current emerging literature. Methods A brief qualitative review based on the application and effectiveness of virtual teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted by referencing keywords, including medical student virtual teaching COVID-19, virtual undergraduate medical education, and virtual medical education COVID-19, in the electronic databases of PubMed and Google Scholar. A total of 201 articles were found, of which 34 were included in the study. Manual searches of the reference lists of the included articles yielded 5 additional articles. The findings were tabulated and assessed under the following headings: summary of virtual teaching offered, strengths of virtual teaching, and weaknesses of virtual teaching. Results The strengths of virtual teaching included the variety of web-based resources available. New interactive forms of virtual teaching are being developed to enable students to interact with patients from their homes. Open-access teaching with medical experts has enabled students to remain abreast of the latest medical advancements and to reclaim knowledge lost by the suspension of university classes and clinical attachments. Peer mentoring has been proven to be a valuable tool for medical students with aims of increasing knowledge and providing psychological support. Weaknesses of virtual teaching included technical challenges, confidentiality issues, reduced student engagement, and loss of assessments. The mental well-being of students was found to be negatively affected during the pandemic. Inequalities of virtual teaching services worldwide were also noted to cause differences in medical education. Conclusions In the unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical schools have a duty to provide ongoing education to medical students. The continuation of teaching is crucial to enable the graduation of future physicians into society. The evidence suggests that virtual teaching is effective, and institutions are working to further develop these resources to improve student engagement and interactivity. Moving forward, medical faculties must adopt a more holistic approach to student education and consider the mental impact of COVID-19 on students as well as improve the security and technology of virtual platforms.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of Virtual Medical Teaching During the COVID-19 Crisis: Systematic Review (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn-Jenia Wilcha
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Clinical Teaching ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Medical Teaching ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Virtual Teaching

BACKGROUND In December 2019, COVID-19 emerged and rapidly spread worldwide. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is high; as a result, countries worldwide have imposed rigorous public health measures, such as quarantine. This has involved the suspension of medical school classes globally. Medical school attachments are vital to aid the progression of students’ confidence and competencies as future physicians. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, medical schools have sought ways to replace medical placements with virtual clinical teaching. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to review the advantages and disadvantages of virtual medical teaching for medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the current emerging literature. METHODS A brief qualitative review based on the application and effectiveness of virtual teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted by referencing keywords, including medical student virtual teaching COVID-19, virtual undergraduate medical education, and virtual medical education COVID-19, in the electronic databases of PubMed and Google Scholar. A total of 201 articles were found, of which 34 were included in the study. Manual searches of the reference lists of the included articles yielded 5 additional articles. The findings were tabulated and assessed under the following headings: summary of virtual teaching offered, strengths of virtual teaching, and weaknesses of virtual teaching. RESULTS The strengths of virtual teaching included the variety of web-based resources available. New interactive forms of virtual teaching are being developed to enable students to interact with patients from their homes. Open-access teaching with medical experts has enabled students to remain abreast of the latest medical advancements and to reclaim knowledge lost by the suspension of university classes and clinical attachments. Peer mentoring has been proven to be a valuable tool for medical students with aims of increasing knowledge and providing psychological support. Weaknesses of virtual teaching included technical challenges, confidentiality issues, reduced student engagement, and loss of assessments. The mental well-being of students was found to be negatively affected during the pandemic. Inequalities of virtual teaching services worldwide were also noted to cause differences in medical education. CONCLUSIONS In the unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical schools have a duty to provide ongoing education to medical students. The continuation of teaching is crucial to enable the graduation of future physicians into society. The evidence suggests that virtual teaching is effective, and institutions are working to further develop these resources to improve student engagement and interactivity. Moving forward, medical faculties must adopt a more holistic approach to student education and consider the mental impact of COVID-19 on students as well as improve the security and technology of virtual platforms.

scholarly journals Assessing the current state of medical education on cannabis in Canada: Preliminary findings from Quebec

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S29-S33
Author(s):  
Laurent Elkrief ◽  
Julien Belliveau ◽  
Tara D’Ignazio ◽  
Philippe Simard ◽  
Didier Jutras-Aswad
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Medical Curricula ◽  
Comfort Levels ◽  
Current State ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Current Curriculum

Abstract The legalization of recreational cannabis across Canada has revealed the importance of medical education on cannabis-related topics. A recent study has indicated that Canadian physicians report a significant gap in current versus desired knowledge regarding the therapeutic use of cannabis. However, the state of education on cannabis has never been studied in Canadian medical schools. This article presents the preliminary findings of a survey conducted to understand the perceptions of Quebec’s medical students regarding cannabis-related teachings in their current curriculum. Overall, students reported very low to low levels of exposure to, knowledge of, and comfort levels with cannabis-related subjects. The majority of students reported that they felt that their medical curricula did not prepare them to face cannabis-related issues in their future practices. Strategies need to be developed for improving medical school curriculum regarding cannabis-related issues. These findings provide potential key strategies to improve curricula.

scholarly journals PRESCRIBING COMPETENCY OF MEDICAL STUDENTS: NATIONAL SURVEY OF MEDICAL EDUCATION LEADERS

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. e18-e24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiayu Liu ◽  
SherWin Wong ◽  
Gary Foster ◽  
Anne Holbrook
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Competency Assessment ◽  
Canadian Medical School ◽  
Education Leaders ◽  
Close Supervision ◽  
School Curricula

Evidence suggests that newly licensed physicians are not adequately prepared to prescribe medications safely. There is currently no national pre-licensure prescribing competency assessment required in North America. This study’s purpose was to survey Canadian medical school leaders for their interest in and perceived need for a nation-wide prescribing assessment for final year medical students. Method In spring of 2015, surveys were disseminated online to medical education leaders in all 17 Canadian medical schools. The survey included questions on perceived medication prescribing competency in medical schools, and interest in integration of a national assessment into medical school curricula and licensing. Results 372 (34.6 %) faculty from all 17 Canadian medical schools responded. 277 (74.5%) respondents were residency directors, 33 (8.9%) vice deans of medical education or equivalent, and 62 (16.7%) clerkship coordinators. Faculty judged 23.4% (SD 22.9%) of their own graduates’ prescribing knowledge to be unsatisfactory and 131 (44.8%) felt obligated to provide close supervision to more than a third of their new residents due to prescribing concerns. 239 (73.0%) believed that an assessment process would improve their graduates’ quality, 262 (80.4%) thought it should be incorporated into their medical school curricula and 248 (76.0%) into the national licensing process. Except in regards to close supervision due to concerns, there were no significant differences between schools’ responses. Conclusions Amongst Canadian medical school leadership, there is a perceived inadequacy in medical student prescribing competency as well as support for a standardized prescribing competency assessment in curricula and licensing processes.

scholarly journals Making a Medical School Class Whole: A Holistic Approach to Student Government

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 238212052093255
Author(s):  
Derek Soled ◽  
Shivangi Goel
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
School Administration ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Student Government ◽  
Student Body ◽  
School Class ◽  
Unique Role

Student government has a unique role in medical schools, where it can function to strongly nurture the well-being of a class. Student body representatives have a better understanding of the interests of medical students and the adversity they face. Thus, the student government is in a prime position to make positive change in the lives of their classmates with help from the school administration. This article explores these ideas and is written from the perspective of the co-presidents of the student body at a northeast medical school.

Medical Education, 1900–1950: Clinical Teaching

1987 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G. Rothstein
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Medical Research ◽  
Basic Science ◽  
Clinical Teaching ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Time Faculty ◽  
Basic Medical

The professionalization of academic medicine occurred in the clinical as well as the basic science curriculum. Full-time clinical faculty members replaced part-time faculty members in the wealthier schools. Medical specialties, many of which were rare outside the medical school, dominated the clinical courses. Clinical teaching, which was improved by more student contact with patients, occurred primarily in hospitals, whose patients were atypical of those seen in community practice. The growing importance of hospitals in medical education led to the construction of university hospitals. Early in the century, some leading basic medical scientists called for full-time faculty members in the clinical fields. They noted that full-time faculty members in the basic sciences had produced great scientific discoveries in Europe and had improved American basic science departments. In 1907, William Welch proposed that “the heads of the principal clinical departments, particularly the medical and the surgical, should devote their main energies and time to their hospital work and to teaching and investigating without the necessity of seeking their livelihood in a busy outside practice” Few clinicians endorsed this proposal. They found the costs prohibitive and disliked the German system of medical research and education on which it was based. Medical research in Germany was carried on, not in medical schools, but in government research institutes headed by medical school professors and staffed by researchers without faculty appointments. All of the researchers were basic medical scientists who were interested in basic research, not practical problems like bacteriology. Although the institutes monopolized the available laboratory and hospital facilities, they were not affiliated with medical schools, had no educational programs, and did not formally train students, although much informal training occurred. For these reasons, their research findings were seldom integrated into the medical school curriculum, and German medical students were not trained to do research. German medical schools had three faculty ranks. Each discipline was headed by one professor, who was a salaried employee of the state and also earned substantial amounts from student fees. Most professors had no institute appointments and did little or no research.

scholarly journals Food for Thought: The Process of Bringing a Universal Medical Curriculum to the Plate – Part I of III

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. JMECD.S17495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron M. McGuffin
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Student ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Education System ◽  
Medical Curriculum ◽  
Burden Of Proof ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
The United States ◽  
Medical Education System

There is currently no universally accepted core collection of competencies or medical education material for medical students. Individual medical schools create their own competencies and set of educational material using a variety of approaches. What has resulted is a medical education system wherein medical students are trained without any burden of proof that they are indeed competent in agreed upon areas of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors befit of a graduating medical student. In fact, the only uniform assurance a member of the public in the United States can have for a graduating allopathic medical student is that the student has successfully passed USMLE Step 1 and 2 by correctly answering a rumored 55–65% of questions correctly (yes, that is an F) and that they have maintained at least a “C” average or “Pass” equivalent in all of their medical school courses. This article discusses these inadequacies within the current medical education system, and the need to standardize the competencies and curricula for all medical schools through a narrative disclosing this author's experience with trying to initiate such a movement at his own medical school.

scholarly journals The Change of Medical Education Landscape in the Midst of COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 97-101
Author(s):  
Fahisham Taib ◽  
Mohd Najib Mat Pa
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Clinical Teaching ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Teaching Methodology ◽  
Medical Teaching ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
New Learning

The COVID-19 outbreak started late 2019 has systematically changed the lives of people around the globe. Medical schools have to implement changes in the teaching methodology to observe social distancing order. The pandemic perpetuates a paradigm shift in medical teaching, from face-to-face to virtual and online teaching. Virtual teaching has become the new learning norm but limited in replacing clinical teaching. It has been considered as one of the most viable options for the long-term durability and continuity of medical education. The fluidity of such educational changes, especially during the pandemic warrants preparation of the online infrastructure learning, literacy of the learners and preparation by the teachers during this period.

scholarly journals Students’ perceptions of the learning environment in two Nigerian medical schools offering different curricula

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 116-121
Author(s):  
Olufunmilola A. Ogun ◽  
Timothy E. Nottidge ◽  
Sue Roff
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Learning Climate ◽  
Older Students ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Improved Learning

Objective: Compare the results of administering the DREEM questionnaire in two Nigerian medical schools offering traditional and student-centred curricular respectively, to identify any differences in the learning environment and appreciate advantages of the more modern curriculum.Methods: A survey design was used. Data was analysed using the DREEM scoring rubric. The independent t-test was used to compare results. Setting: The DREEM questionnaire was administered to final year medical students at two participating centres. Participants: Final year students of a teacher-centred and a student-centred medical school. Results: There were 138 respondents – 50 (96.2% of the final year students) from the teacher centred school and 88 (59.1% of the final year students) from the student-centred school. The mean total DREEM score was 117+22.3 in the former and 119 +23.6 in the latter (p = 0.798). Mean age of students in the teacher centred school was 28 ± 5.28 years, while that of the student-centred school was 23 ± 1.83 years (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The mean total DREEM score proximity between the schools suggests that the younger students using a more student-centred curriculum have less of an appreciation of their improved learning environment than is expected. Thus, the hidden curriculum could be lagging behind the written one. The older students in the teacher centred environment have a more mature appreciation of their learning climate.  Funding: Personal sourcesKeywords: medical education, Nigeria, curriculum, DREEM

Dissecting the Student Experience at Australian Medical Schools, 1884–1912

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenia Pacitti
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Student Experience ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Lecture Notes ◽  
History Of

Abstract Historians of medicine have observed that the student experience of medical school is difficult to capture. While students sometimes left behind notebooks containing lecture notes and diagrams, there is often little evidence that illuminates their lived experiences and responses to their education. This article analyses written submissions to the publication of the Melbourne Medical Students’ Society, Speculum, between 1884 and 1912, to argue that students at the Melbourne Medical School in this era actively participated in discussions about the curriculum on offer, were highly aware of the moral and ethical consequences of their actions in the dissecting room and took great interest in the advancements and debates of the medical profession. It reclaims the student experience of medical school, which has often been hidden in favour of history written from the perspective of those in positions of power, to offer fresh insights into the history of medical education.

scholarly journals Predictive validity of A-level grades and teacher-predicted grades in UK medical school applicants: a retrospective analysis of administrative data in a time of COVID-19

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. e047354
Author(s):  
I C McManus ◽  
Katherine Woolf ◽  
David Harrison ◽  
Paul A Tiffin ◽  
Lewis W Paton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Predictive Validity ◽  
Postgraduate Training ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Longitudinal Observational Study ◽  
Medical Education And Training ◽  
Future Consequences ◽  
And Training

ObjectivesTo compare in UK medical students the predictive validity of attained A-level grades and teacher-predicted A levels for undergraduate and postgraduate outcomes. Teacher-predicted A-level grades are a plausible proxy for the teacher-estimated grades that replaced UK examinations in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also models the likely future consequences for UK medical schools of replacing public A-level examination grades with teacher-predicted grades.DesignLongitudinal observational study using UK Medical Education Database data.SettingUK medical education and training.ParticipantsDataset 1: 81 202 medical school applicants in 2010–2018 with predicted and attained A-level grades. Dataset 2: 22 150 18-year-old medical school applicants in 2010–2014 with predicted and attained A-level grades, of whom 12 600 had medical school assessment outcomes and 1340 had postgraduate outcomes available.Outcome measuresUndergraduate and postgraduate medical examination results in relation to attained and teacher-predicted A-level results.ResultsDataset 1: teacher-predicted grades were accurate for 48.8% of A levels, overpredicted in 44.7% of cases and underpredicted in 6.5% of cases. Dataset 2: undergraduate and postgraduate outcomes correlated significantly better with attained than with teacher-predicted A-level grades. Modelling suggests that using teacher-estimated grades instead of attained grades will mean that 2020 entrants are more likely to underattain compared with previous years, 13% more gaining the equivalent of the lowest performance decile and 16% fewer reaching the equivalent of the current top decile, with knock-on effects for postgraduate training.ConclusionsThe replacement of attained A-level examination grades with teacher-estimated grades as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic may result in 2020 medical school entrants having somewhat lower academic performance compared with previous years. Medical schools may need to consider additional teaching for entrants who are struggling or who might need extra support for missed aspects of A-level teaching.

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