The plight of COVID-19 pandemic on medical students and residency applicants

Abstract

In this pandemic situation, medical students find them in a state of apprehension. With medical institutions closed and switch to online teaching and telehealth, many aspects of medical learning are still compromised, including core clinical rotations, clinical skills evaluation, and exams cancelation. The medical students are distressed about their continuity of education and developing the necessary skill to feel confident enough to practice in the future. The involvement of medical students as frontline workers with inadequate clinical training, the uncertainty of future, lack of knowledge, and access to personal protective equipment have aroused a sense of fear in them.They not only nurture their clinical skills from the clinical rotations but it also helps adapt to their residency program later. With the lack of clinical experience, challenges of online learning, cancelation of conferences, and on-site research, medical students are struggling to make their residency application competitive. Recruiting residents amid the pandemic is a difficult task. The uncertainty in the unprecedented situation has an immense psychological impact on medical students and residency applicants. Despite the hurdles being faced, there are many ways where medical students and residency applicants can use their knowledge to help in fighting the pandemic. They can volunteer in the field of research on COVID-19, as a contact tracer, and provide peer support to the patients through telecommunications. Many avenues are being sought to ensure the continuation of medical education. However, how efficient these methods will prove in the future is yet to be revealed.