The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Research and Volunteering Activities among Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study among Romanian and International Students from One Medical Faculty from Romania.

INTRODUCTION: This study focuses on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical students in their last year of study at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It analyzes the impact of social distance limits on the conduct of research activities required for the development of the graduation thesis, as well as assesses sixth-year students' attitudes and behaviors toward volunteer activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in June-July 2021 among sixth-year students. It used an anonymous online questionnaire and was sent to all students from the Faculty of Medicine studying in the Romanian, English, or French sections (n = 606). The response rate was 38.28%, resulting in a final sample of 232 students from both Romanian and international sections. RESULTS: The findings demonstrate that two-thirds of the students in the survey agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on their research. Some of the students had to choose another subject for their graduation thesis, while about a quarter of the students gave up collecting personal data, 25% of respondents stated that it was difficult to contact research participants, one-third of them linked the difficulty of doing activities at the hospital to the present outbreak, and almost 30% of the students had difficulty communicating with the coordinator. The disturbance of the research activity seems to be higher among international students in comparison with the Romanian students, while there are limited gender differences. One out of five medical students has been involved in volunteer activities during the pandemic. Most have opted to volunteer at hospitals (especially international students) and contribute to health education activities (especially women). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study from Romania and one of the few from Europe that presents data regarding the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on research and volunteering activities among medical students.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Research and Volunteering Activities among Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study among Romanian and International Students from One Medical Faculty from Romania

Introduction: This study focuses on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical students in their last year of study at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It analyzes the impact of social distance limits on the conduct of research activities required for the development of the graduation thesis, as well as assesses sixth-year students' attitudes and behaviors toward volunteer activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in June–July 2021 among sixth-year students. It used an anonymous online questionnaire and was sent to all students from the Faculty of Medicine studying in the Romanian, English, or French sections (n = 606). The response rate was 38.28%, resulting in a final sample of 232 students from both Romanian and international sections. Results: The findings demonstrate that two-thirds of the students in the survey agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on their research. Some of the students had to choose another subject for their graduation thesis, while about a quarter of the students gave up collecting personal data, 25% of respondents stated that it was difficult to contact research participants, one-third of them linked the difficulty of doing activities at the hospital to the present outbreak, and almost 30% of the students had difficulty communicating with the coordinator. The disturbance of the research activity seems to be higher among international students in comparison with the Romanian students, while there are limited gender differences. One out of five medical students has been involved in volunteer activities during the pandemic. Most have opted to volunteer at hospitals (especially international students) and contribute to health education activities (especially women). Conclusions: This is the first study from Romania and one of the few from Europe that presents data regarding the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on research and volunteering activities among medical students.

Unravelling data for rapid evidence-based response to COVID-19: a summary of the unCoVer protocol.

INTRODUCTION: unCoVer-Unravelling data for rapid evidence-based response to COVID-19-is a Horizon 2020-funded network of 29 partners from 18 countries capable of collecting and using real-world data (RWD) derived from the response and provision of care to patients with COVID-19 by health systems across Europe and elsewhere. unCoVer aims to exploit the full potential of this information to rapidly address clinical and epidemiological research questions arising from the evolving pandemic. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, partners are gathering RWD from electronic health records currently including information from over 22 000 hospitalised patients with COVID-19, and national surveillance and screening data, and registries with over 1 900 000 COVID-19 cases across Europe, with continuous updates. These heterogeneous datasets will be described, harmonised and integrated into a multi-user data repository operated through Opal-DataSHIELD, an interoperable open-source server application. Federated data analyses, without sharing or disclosing any individual-level data, will be performed with the objective to reveal patients' baseline characteristics, biomarkers, determinants of COVID-19 prognosis, safety and effectiveness of treatments, and potential strategies against COVID-19, as well as epidemiological patterns. These analyses will complement evidence from efficacy/safety clinical trials, where vulnerable, more complex/heterogeneous populations and those most at risk of severe COVID-19 are often excluded. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: After strict ethical considerations, databases will be available through a federated data analysis platform that allows processing of available COVID-19 RWD without disclosing identification information to analysts and limiting output to data aggregates. Dissemination of unCoVer's activities will be related to the access and use of dissimilar RWD, as well as the results generated by the pooled analyses. Dissemination will include training and educational activities, scientific publications and conference communications.