Where is it Safe? Questioning Education Policy, Safety, and Choices for Students Traveling Internationally During a Global Health Crisis

The emergence of the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020 forced most students who had been studying abroad to return to the United States. Even as travel restrictions eased in the ensuing months, universities and international education organizations struggled to contend with conflicting statements regarding policy and health guidelines from the federal government. In this chapter, we present the policy context surrounding the early spread of COVID-19, universities' early responses, the pushback against federal government travel advisory levels, and recommendations for educational institutions moving forward. © 2023 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Evaluation of an Informal Virtual Medical Student Elective in Radiation Oncology During the COVID Era

Purpose/Objective(s): The COVID19 pandemic prevented most onsite elective rotations for medical students (MSs) in 2020;therefore, alternate methods of subspeciality exploration were necessary. We assessed the efficacy of an informal virtual elective (IVE) for students interested in radiation oncology (RO). Materials/Methods: We created a series of IVE activities (non-credit granting) related to RO. MSs interested in the formal RO away elective at MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) were invited to participate. A pre- and post-IVE survey was performed in the Summer and Fall of 2020, respectively. Likert-type scores (1 = not at all, 5 = extremely) were reported as median [interquartile range]. The Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare pre/post values. Results: The pre- and post-IVE surveys were completed by 22/27 (81%) and 20/27 (74%) students, respectively. Prior to the IVE, students reported their top reasons for participation: promote self in preparation for interview season (5, 23%), receive an introduction to the field of RO (4, 18%), interact with faculty/residents at MDACC (3, 14%), networking (3, 14%), initiate research collaborations (3, 14%), self-exposure in RO (2, 9%), explore research opportunities (1, 5%), explore learning opportunities (1, 5%). Students reported that resident mentors would be extremely beneficial (5 [4-5]) on the pre-IVE survey vs. quite beneficial (4 [4-5]) on the post-IVE survey (P = 0.42). Faculty mentors were rated slightly more beneficial after the IVE (5 [4-5]) compared to prior (4.5 [4-5]) (P = 0.79). Students rated preparing and delivering a virtual presentation as quite beneficial (4 [3-4]) prior to the IVE and extremely beneficial (3 [3-5]) after the IVE (P = 0.16). The MS lecture series was rated as quite beneficial both prior to (4 [4-5]) and after (4.5 [4-5]) the IVE (P = 0.86). The remote resident didactics were rated as quite beneficial on both the pre- and post-IVE survey (4 [4-5] vs 4 [3-4], respectively, P = 0.054). On the pre-IVE survey, MSs preferred a full onsite away elective (16, 73%) vs. an official virtual elective (3, 14%), or an IVE (3, 14%). On the post-IVE survey, fewer MSs preferred an official virtual elective (1, 5%), and most still preferred a full onsite away elective (16, 80%). On the post-IVE survey, students reported participating in an onsite elective at their home institution (14, 70%), a full virtual away elective (7, 35%), a full onsite away elective (4, 20%), and none (2, 10%). Overall, students scored the ability of the IVE to provide an adequate introduction to RO higher after the experience (4 [4-5] vs 3 [3-4.25], P = 0.10 Conclusion: MSs report that IVE experiences can provide an adequate introduction to RO, although they prefer a formal onsite away elective. These informal virtual activities could be used to introduce MSs to smaller, less accessible subspecialties such as RO, even when onsite rotations are again allowed.