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      Challenges and Opportunities of Preclinical Medical Education: COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond

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          Abstract

          COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted face-to-face teaching in medical schools globally. The use of remote learning as an emergency measure has affected students, faculty, support staff, and administrators. The aim of this narrative review paper is to examine the challenges and opportunities faced by medical schools in implementing remote learning for basic science teaching in response to the COVID-19 crisis. We searched relevant literature in PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar using specific keywords, e.g., “COVID-19 pandemic,” “preclinical medical education,” “online learning,” “remote learning,” “challenges,” and “opportunities.” The pandemic has posed several challenges to premedical education (e.g., suspension of face-to-face teaching, lack of cadaveric dissections, and practical/laboratory sessions) but has provided many opportunities as well, such as the incorporation of online learning in the curriculum and upskilling and reskilling in new technologies. To date, many medical schools have successfully transitioned their educational environment to emergency remote teaching and assessments. During COVID-19 crisis, the preclinical phase of medical curricula has successfully introduced the novel culture of “online home learning” using technology-oriented innovations, which may extend to post-COVID era to maintain teaching and learning in medical education. However, the lack of hands-on training in the preclinical years may have serious implications on the training of the current cohort of students, and they may struggle later in the clinical years. The use of emergent technology (e.g., artificial intelligence for adaptive learning, virtual simulation, and telehealth) for education is most likely to be indispensable components of the transformative change and post-COVID medical education.

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          Most cited references26

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          COVID ‐19 and online teaching in higher education: A case study of Peking University

          Wei Bao (2020)
          Abstract Starting from the spring of 2020, the outbreak of the COVID‐19 caused Chinese universities to close the campuses and forced them to initiate online teaching. This paper focuses on a case of Peking University's online education. Six specific instructional strategies are presented to summarize current online teaching experiences for university instructors who might conduct online education in similar circumstances. The study concludes with five high‐impact principles for online education: (a) high relevance between online instructional design and student learning, (b) effective delivery on online instructional information, (c) adequate support provided by faculty and teaching assistants to students; (d) high‐quality participation to improve the breadth and depth of student's learning, and (e) contingency plan to deal with unexpected incidents of online education platforms.
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            Is Open Access

            Barriers and solutions to online learning in medical education – an integrative review

            Background The aim of this study is to review the literature on known barriers and solutions that face educators when developing and implementing online learning programs for medical students and postgraduate trainees. Methods An integrative review was conducted over a three-month period by an inter-institutional research team. The search included ScienceDirect, Scopus, BioMedical, PubMed, Medline (EBSCO & Ovid), ERIC, LISA, EBSCO, Google Scholar, ProQuest A&I, ProQuest UK & Ireland, UL Institutional Repository (IR), UCDIR and the All Aboard Report. Search terms included online learning, medical educators, development, barriers, solutions and digital literacy. The search was carried out by two reviewers. Titles and abstracts were screened independently and reviewed with inclusion/exclusion criteria. A consensus was drawn on which articles were included. Data appraisal was performed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) Qualitative Research Checklist and NHMRC Appraisal Evidence Matrix. Data extraction was completed using the Cochrane Data Extraction Form and a modified extraction tool. Results Of the 3101 abstracts identified from the search, ten full-text papers met the inclusion criteria. Data extraction was completed on seven papers of high methodological quality and on three lower quality papers. Findings suggest that the key barriers which affect the development and implementation of online learning in medical education include time constraints, poor technical skills, inadequate infrastructure, absence of institutional strategies and support and negative attitudes of all involved. Solutions to these include improved educator skills, incentives and reward for the time involved with development and delivery of online content, improved institutional strategies and support and positive attitude amongst all those involved in the development and delivery of online content. Conclusion This review has identified barriers and solutions amongst medical educators to the implementation of online learning in medical education. Results can be used to inform institutional and educator practice in the development of further online learning. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-018-1240-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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              Medical and Surgical Education Challenges and Innovations in the COVID-19 Era: A Systematic Review

              The aim of this systematic review was to identify the challenges imposed on medical and surgical education by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the proposed innovations enabling the continuation of medical student and resident training. A systematic review on the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases was performed on April 18th, 2020, and yielded 1288 articles. Sixty-one of the included manuscripts were synthesized in a qualitative description focused on two major axes, "challenges" and "innovative solutions", and two minor axes, "mental health" and "medical students in the frontlines". Shortage of personal protective equipment, suspension of clinical clerkships and observerships and reduction in elective surgical cases unavoidably affect medical and surgical education. Interesting solutions involving the use of virtual learning, videoconferencing, social media and telemedicine could effectively tackle the sudden cease in medical education. Furthermore, trainee's mental health should be safeguarded, and medical students can be involved in the COVID-19 clinical treatment if needed.

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                azim.majumder@cavehill.uwi.edu
                Journal
                SN Compr Clin Med
                SN Compr Clin Med
                Sn Comprehensive Clinical Medicine
                Springer International Publishing (Cham )
                2523-8973
                22 September 2020
                : 1-6
                Affiliations
                [1 ]GRID grid.412886.1, Faculty of Medical Sciences, , The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, ; Bridgetown, Barbados
                [2 ]GRID grid.430529.9, Deputy Dean, Quality Assurance & Accreditation, Faculty of Medical Sciences, , The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, ; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8017-6035
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3398-8695
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8702-7641
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2758-2146
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5070-0457
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7532-1229
                Article
                528
                10.1007/s42399-020-00528-1
                7508422
                32984766
                b9558d4c-ede9-4f91-943a-d2d88005fe16
                © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

                This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.

                History
                : 17 September 2020
                Categories
                Covid-19

                covid-19 pandemic,preclinical medical education,online learning,remote learning,challenges,opportunities

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