The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Learning Outcomes of Medical Students in Taiwan: A Two-Year Prospective Cohort Study of OSCE Performance

Background/Aims: To avoid the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical clerkship, supplemental teachings such as digital materials in the scenario-based distal simulations were implemented. This study utilized the OSCE (objective-structured clinical examination) to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the learning outcome of medical students from the regular group (class of 2020) and pandemic-impacted group (class of 2021). Methods: All medical students serially took, firstly, the mock-OSCE, secondly, the mock-OSCE, and the national OSCE. Then, the serial OSCE scores were compared between groups. Results: Although with similar scores in the first mock OSCE, the regular group (n = 78) had a higher average score in the national OSCE than the pandemic-impacted group (n = 80) (872.18 vs. 834.96, p = 0.003). In terms of improvement, the performances of the regular group were also better than the pandemic-impacted group between the second mock OSCE and the national OSCE (79.10 vs. 38.14, p = 0.014), and between the second mock OSCE and the national OSCE (125.11 vs. 77.52, p = 0.003). While separating distinct genres, the regular group had more of a score increment in standardized patient-based stations between the second mock OSCE and the national OSCE (regular vs. pandemic-impacted: 57.03 vs. 18.95, p = 0.003), as well as between the first mock OSCE and the national OSCE (75.97 vs. 26.36, p < 0.001), but there was no significant difference among the skill-based stations. In particular, the scores of the emergency medicine associated station in the national OSCE of the pandemic-impacted group was lower. Conclusions: Our study implies that the pandemic significantly hampered the learning outcomes of final year medical students in their clinical participation. Especially facing the COVID-19 pandemic, more supplemental teachings are needed to compensate the decreasing emergency medicine exposure.

Adaptation of Geriatric Interprofessional Education from In-Person to Virtual Simulation

We modified an in-person simulation-enhanced interprofessional education model as necessitated by COVID-19 restrictions to a fully virtual education experience. Online prework remained unchanged but adjustments were made related to previously in-person activities. Diverging from the in-person training we held live virtual poster sessions with learner-presenter interaction. In preparation for their role in the team meeting simulation, learners were moved into preassigned profession-specific breakout rooms for a live virtual huddle with facilitators. Next, learners were moved to preassigned interprofessional breakout rooms where they began the simulated team meeting. After initial discussion, a standardized patient joined the breakout room to present the patient/caregiver perspective. The event ends with a virtual reflective debrief focused on interprofessional collaborative competencies.