Faculty Development in the COVID-19 Era: A Rapid Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health
• Online Learning

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated rapid changes in medical education faculty development.
• This review synthesizes evidence on interventions addressing the pandemic's impact.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a narrative synthesis of faculty development interventions in medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To analyze the focus, methods, duration, and outcomes of these interventions.

Main Methods:

• A rapid systematic review of 5 databases (Medline/PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, ERIC, Scopus) from December 2019 to November 2021.
• Included studies focused on faculty development in medical education during the COVID-19 era and were published in English.
• Forward and backward citation searching was employed to identify additional relevant articles.

Main Results:

• Ten articles were included in the review.
• Most interventions focused on improving online teaching and learning skills.
• Findings were categorized into intervention descriptions and pandemic-specific aspects.

Conclusions:

• Faculty development programs in medical education can enhance educator skills and organizational capacity during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
• A significant shift towards online faculty development occurred, likely to persist post-pandemic.
• Future educational development requires organized adaptation and innovation.