ABSTRACT
Purpose: The curriculum of the Adelson School of Medicine at Ariel University, the newly established sixth medical school in Israel, includes a simulation center-based extended course on physician-patient communication, aiming to help students master the core competency of interpersonal and communication skills. For more than a year following the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the school suspended most face-to-face (F2F) encounters, transforming most teaching activities to remote platforms. The paper outlines the ways we adapted teaching of this course to these circumstances, the reactions of students and mentors to the changes and results of 1st year students' survey. Methods: During the lockdown in the first year 48 of 70 first-year students participated in a voluntary anonymous online evaluation of the course assessing motivation to become a physician; perceptions, feelings and attitudes towards the communication course, and advantages and disadvantages of online and F2F medical interviews. Results: 46.1% of the responding students reported that the pandemic strengthened their desire to become physicians. 56.3% claimed that they were able to a relatively large extent to empathize with COVID-19 patients who were exposed to the virus; 79.1% viewed their mentors as positive role models of communication skills. The students were able to receive and offer social support to their peers. They evaluated very highly the short instructional videos produced by the faculty. Conclusion: During the lockdown, the respondents generally indicated positive attitudes towards the communication course, the mentors and the inclusion of physician-patient communication as a topic in medical education. The students and mentors reported many disadvantages and few advantages of remote learning. Yet inevitably remote learning including online-based simulations is a step towards preparations for future practice within virtual medical care and telemedicine. The limitations of this study include the cross-sectional design, small sample size and self-reporting.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Social distancing, implemented to decrease the spread of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), forced major changes in medical practices, including an abrupt transition from face-to-face to remote patient care. Pre-clinical medical studies were concomitantly switched to electronic distance learning. OBJECTIVES: To explore potential implications of COVID-19 on future pre-clinical medical studies. METHODS: We examined responses of pre-clinical medical students to the remote electronic learning in terms of quality of and satisfaction with teaching and technical support, attendance to classes, and the desire to continue electronic learning in the post-epidemic era. A survey of responses from first-year students at the Adelson School of Medicine was conducted. To optimize the reliability of the survey, a single research assistant conducted telephone interviews with each student, using a structured questionnaire concerning aspects of participation and satisfaction with teaching and with technical components of the remote electronic learning. RESULTS: With 100% response rate, the students reported high satisfaction with the electronic learning regarding its quality, online interactions, instructions given, technical assistance, and availability of recording for future studies. Most of the students (68.6%) noted a preference to continue < 90% of the learning online in the post-outbreak era. A high level of overall satisfaction and a low rate of technical problems during electronic learning were significantly correlated with the desire to continue online learning (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The high satisfaction and the positive experience with the electronic distance learning imposed by the COVID-19 epidemic implied a successful transition and might induce future changes in pre-clinical medical studies.
