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The impact of COVID-19 on medical students
Wenwen Wang1, Genpeng Li1, Jianyong Lei1
1Division of Thyroid Surgery, Department of General Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Insights
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted medical students' education and well-being, altering learning models and clinical experiences. A flexible, blended education approach is recommended for the future.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Public Health
- Student Well-being
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruption to social order and healthcare systems globally.
- Medical students faced unprecedented challenges impacting their academic and personal development.
Conclusions:
- The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected medical students' education and personal growth.
- Future medical education should incorporate lessons learned to develop more resilient and flexible models.
- A blended education model integrating online and in-person learning shows promise for future medical training.
Objective:
The outbreak of COVID-19 has disrupted social order and placed a heavy burden on the healthcare system. The pandemic also has an unprecedented impact on medical students.
Methods:
We searched PubMed for articles related to COVID-19 and medical students from January 2020 to December 2022. A total of 5358 studies were retrieved and after screening, 176 studies were finally included in this review.
Results:
The impact of COVID-19 on medical students is widespread and profound. First reflected in the transformation of educational models. In the early days, education model quickly shifted from offline to online. In terms of clinical exposure, most students have been suspended from internships, while in some areas with staff shortages they have the opportunity to continue clinical work. Scientific research of medical students is also difficult to carry out due to COVID-19. The epidemic has also seriously damaged students' mental health, and this impact won't simply disappear with the improvement of the epidemic situation. The career intentions of medical students may also become firmer or change due to COVID-19. International medical electives have also been negatively affected by COVID-19 due to travel restriction. Even in the postpandemic era, with the gradual resumption of work, production and school, medical students are still affected in some ways by COVID-19.
Conclusion:
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on both the education of medical students and their personal development. Through COVID-19, we should reflect on what models of medical education should be developed in the future. Based on the experiences learned from COVID-19, we believe that a more flexible blended education model may be the most promising.
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