A competency-based Internal Medicine course in an emergency education setting

Abstract

IntroductionAt the beginning of 2020, the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 arrived, triggering the COVID-19 pandemic that affected every aspect of daily life including global education systems. This dire public health situation across the planet forced the accelerated implementation of emergency remote teaching at all education levels. Educational institutions and hospitals adopted virtual classes, webinars, tutorials, and virtual libraries to continue academic activities. Other useful tools researchers used were standardizing patients and clinical simulation. The central objective of this study was to analyze how an Internal Medicine competency-based course, with a theoretical and a practical block, responded to an emergency education environment from June to December of 2020. Material and methodsStudents and teachers completed written evaluations, the students completed the DREEM questionnaire and teachers recorded their personal insights. The authors conducted focus groups and analyzed transcripts of the virtual activities. ResultsAll 60 students (100%) participated in the study. The students’ average score of the DREEM questionnaire on education environment was 177.8/200, and the students’ average teaching evaluation was 6.38/7. All students passed the final exam. The authors also categorized the favorable and unfavorable findings from both the theoretical and the practical blocks of the course on three dimensions: organization, pedagogy, and technology. ConclusionThe results indicate that the students perceived an excellent educational environment. Several points for improvement emerged such as teacher training in computer technologies, the socialization of learning objectives, and the feedback that students receive from teachers to achieve the proposed learning objectives.