The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the medical education system: A Romanian cross-sectional retrospective study

Abstract

Introduction: In this study, we aimed to assess the impact of new teaching strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic through the students' perspective and their mental health profiles. Methods: Active students from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iuliu Hațieganu during 2019-2021 retrospectively completed an online questionnaire including inquiries on the education changes and DASS-42 items. Finally, they were divided into preclinical and clinical status. Results: Preclinical students expressed significant compliance with their teachers' handling of practical notions (p=0.04), their teachers' online interaction (p 0.001), and the objectivity of oral exams (p=0.02). More than half of the participants had different levels of depression, anxiety, and stress severity. Levels of depression were significantly associated with housing possibilities and females expressed higher scores on the stress scale. Conclusions: The pandemic brought varying mental disturbances for students while the preclinical/clinical status could delineate distinct views on the new teaching strategies.