Surgery Clerkship Directors Suggest that COVID-19 Pandemic Had Significant Impact on Medical Student Education

Spanknebel K, Ellison EC, Nagler A, et al. Surgery Clerkship Directors’ Perceptions of the COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on Medical Student Education. J Am Coll Surgeons. 2022, in press.

The authors performed surveys of 164 surgical clerkship directors during the Spring of 2020 and 2021 to obtain opinions on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical student education. Response rate for the 2020 survey was 44.5% and 50.6% for the 2021 survey.

The survey data showed that more than 95% of programs adopted virtual educational platforms in 2020, and 46% had returned to pre-pandemic educational activities by 2021. Delayed student progression was observed in 12% of clerkships, and 43% of clerkship directors reported negative impact of the pandemic in 2020; however, this figure improved significantly in the 2021 survey. An encouraging observation was that the proportion of students interested in pursuing surgical training did not decrease during the study interval. A significant positive aspect of the pandemic experience was the development of virtual patient encounters; improvement in didactics, student test performance, continuous personal learning, and engagement in the clerkship were also documented.

The authors concluded that there was a significant negative impact by the pandemic on aspects of student surgical education, though some positive pandemic experiences emerged as well. Further investigation into the clinical and educational value of telehealth could potentially confirm a long-term value for these approaches.

Editorial

Freischlag JA. What Has COVID-19 Done for You Lately? J Am Coll Surg. 2022, in press.

In the editorial that accompanied the article, ACS Immediate Past-President Julie A. Freischlag, MD, FACS, DFSVS, emphasized that there were multiple features of the pandemic that harmed patients (for example, delays in diagnosis and treatment of cancer) but surgeons adapted to the crisis by developing beneficial, innovative clinical and educational solutions to the challenges presented was remarkable.