Navigating the virtual medical school experience during COVID - What comes next?

• Published in: The American journal of surgery 2022-05, Vol.223 (5), p.1013-1014
• Main Authors: Kempthorne, Douglas, Williams, Lamario, Brazelle, Morgan, Obi, Ted, Shao, Connie, Kennedy, Gregory, Fazendin, Jessica
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attention; Burnout; Coping; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Curricula; Data collection; Distance learning; Emotions; Humans; International cooperation; Medical education; Medical students; Motivation; My Thoughts / My Surgical Pratice; Online instruction; Pandemics; Patients; Remote monitoring; SARS-CoV-2; Schools, Medical; Stress; Students; Students, Medical; Teachers; Telemedicine; Training
• ISSN: 0002-9610; 1879-1883
• DOI: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2021.10.021

Continued feedback and data collection regarding the effectiveness of various wellness initiatives at all levels of medical training will help guide targeted resources and promote feelings of support.43 The importance of optimizing emotional awareness and well-being Optimizing emotional and physical well-being positively impacts scholastic performance.3 When struggling with motivation and focus, it can be difficult to achieve emotional awareness and the adoption of healthy habits (i.e., prioritizing healthy meals, exercise, and quality sleep), critical to excel as a student. [...]it is the difficulties apart from school (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic, death of a loved one, financial difficulties, relationship woes) in addition to the stress of medical training that compete for students’ mental and emotional attention. [...]there is a need to pay close attention to emotional well-being in order to maximize longevity and prevent burnout. Anonymous live polling also may offer benefit in guiding discussion sessions on sensitive topics – such as culture, disparities, biases in UME and practice.8 These topics are recognized areas of concern for students during surgical clerkships, thus anonymous live-response guided discussion sessions may be an opportunity to address and ameliorate negative perceptions.8 Despite hands-on clinical learning generally being the most impactful,2 the relative success of novel virtual clerkships shows promise for further exploration of virtual elective opportunities to facilitate broader exploration among surgical specialties specifically.7 As healthcare trends toward the utilization of telemedicine and remote monitoring modalities, virtual skills gained will be valuable to serving patients of the present and future.9 Most importantly, we should nurture the exponential growth of online academic communities via social media platforms, as this encourages inter-institution and international collaboration.