Development of hidden curriculum skills in a COVID-19 vaccination centre.

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many medical students were deployed as vaccinators. This study set out to capture the lived experience of students at a London-based mass vaccination site, understand what they learned, how this learning compared to their experience of usual medical education and how any identified benefits might be leveraged in a post-pandemic context. Student vaccinators (n = 8) were recruited from the vaccine clinic workforce and invited to complete semi-structured interviews about their experiences. Thematic analysis was conducted on interview transcripts to identify significant concepts, which were interpreted in the context of available literature. Participants' experiences aligned broadly with the undergraduate curriculum. However, many also identified hidden curriculum areas developed through their work as vaccinators, including professionalism, self-regulating learning and ethical decision-making. The need for adequate support, whilst promoting autonomy, was highlighted as vital in supporting professional identity formation within a community of practice, benchmarking clinical knowledge and performance, and in support of student wellbeing, in the face of challenging real-world clinical encounters. Increased entrustment of clinical activity could be implemented in primary and secondary care settings to reproduce the benefits experienced by student vaccinators in front-line roles during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further work might consider how to maximise these benefits and increase inclusion and participation.