Abstract
This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. While the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every aspect of modern life, including medical education, the response has been remarkable. Ingenuity and innovation have flourished in the face of adversity. An international community of practice has blossomed in response to the challenges posed by COVID-19. Communication and sharing of information have been a hallmark of this community. In Australasia, the Medical Education Collaborative Committee hosted a series of meetings and webinars which enabled educators from all Australian and New Zealand medical schools to share experiences, solutions and resources. This group is auspiced by the Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand, which is the peak body representing professional entry-level medical education, training and research. One of these webinars focused on the student experience, featuring a panel of Australasian medical students drawn from a range of medical schools. The discussion during this session was wide reaching, including topics such as communication, co-designing curriculum changes, the importance of compassion, innovative practice, and meaningful student participation in placements. The ideas drawn from the panel discussion augmented by rich audience participation form the basis of the twelve tips presented in this paper. While derived from the experience in Australia and New Zealand, the authors believe these lessons are likely to be relevant in other jurisdictions.
Highlights
Every aspect of modern life, in almost every corner of the globe has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.Hays et al observe that health professional education is no exception, being situated within the healthcare system, universities, and the broader community (Hays et al, 2020)
A pervasive question posed to us all during the COVID-19 pandemic has been ‘what is essential?’ Is your travel essential? Are you an essential worker? Are you gathering for an essential reason? Unsurprisingly, as we continually structure our daily activities around this theme of essentiality, we suggest it must colour the design of medical education in the post-COVID-19 era
The very authors of this article largely became acquainted owing to a national panel they hosted regarding the pandemic’s impact on medical students! As we look towards medical education in the postCOVID era, may we remember and retain the hidden gems unearthed by the disruption
Summary
Every aspect of modern life, in almost every corner of the globe has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to sessions with usual educators (typically senior registrars or consultants), many NPLs found themselves less apprehensive about asking questions and better able to engage with the content during teaching This was reportedly due to (1) a narrower knowledge and authority gap between teacher and student, such that NPLs did not feel ‘judged’ for ineptitude; (2) that the volunteer student teachers had no formal role in assessment of the NPLs and (3) the content was highly-tailored to the NPLs’ specific learning needs for the rotation, which is sometimes a challenge for hospital-based clinicians who are invited to teach. The pandemic has led many medical programs to innovate - moving tutorials online, creating methods of assessment not reliant on face-to-face interaction and radically redesigning what elements of the course were crucial in order to ensure competent health professionals These innovations were adaptations to a crisis, the eventual resolution of such adversity need not mean that these improvements and flexibilities should be lost. The very authors of this article largely became acquainted owing to a national panel they hosted regarding the pandemic’s impact on medical students! As we look towards medical education in the postCOVID era, may we remember and retain the hidden gems unearthed by the disruption
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