Teamwork in the time of COVID-19

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Teamwork in Healthcare
• Online Learning

Background:

• Effective clinical teamwork is crucial for improving patient outcomes and reducing medical errors.
• Undergraduate medical education should incorporate team-based activities to prepare future clinicians.
• Traditional team-based learning (TBL) and interprofessional clinical experiences (ILCE) require close physical proximity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the adaptation of in-person team-based learning (TBL) and interprofessional longitudinal clinical experiences (ILCE) to an online format.
• To address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing guidelines on medical education.
• To document student and faculty experiences with these adapted educational models.

Main Methods:

• Transitioned in-person team-based learning (TBL) activities to virtual platforms.
• Developed new online clinical and interprofessional experiences adhering to social distancing.
• Utilized online tools and strategies to facilitate collaboration and skill development.

Main Results:

• Successfully adapted TBL and ILCE to an online environment, enabling continued skill development.
• Maintained opportunities for students to practice teamwork and interprofessional collaboration remotely.
• Gathered insights into student and faculty experiences with the modified educational approaches.

Conclusions:

• Medical education can effectively adapt team-based and interprofessional learning to online formats.
• Maintaining teamwork skills is feasible even with physical distancing through innovative pedagogical approaches.
• The experiences provide valuable lessons for future blended or online medical training programs.