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. 2020 Jun;34(3 Suppl):1603-1611.
doi: 10.21873/invivo.11950.

Medical and Surgical Education Challenges and Innovations in the COVID-19 Era: A Systematic Review

Aikaterini Dedeilia  1 , Marinos G Sotiropoulos  2 , John Gerrard Hanrahan  3 , Deepa Janga  4 , Panagiotis Dedeilias #  5 , Michail Sideris #  6
Affiliations

Medical and Surgical Education Challenges and Innovations in the COVID-19 Era: A Systematic Review

Aikaterini Dedeilia et al. In Vivo. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

The aim of this systematic review was to identify the challenges imposed on medical and surgical education by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the proposed innovations enabling the continuation of medical student and resident training. A systematic review on the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases was performed on April 18th, 2020, and yielded 1288 articles. Sixty-one of the included manuscripts were synthesized in a qualitative description focused on two major axes, "challenges" and "innovative solutions", and two minor axes, "mental health" and "medical students in the frontlines". Shortage of personal protective equipment, suspension of clinical clerkships and observerships and reduction in elective surgical cases unavoidably affect medical and surgical education. Interesting solutions involving the use of virtual learning, videoconferencing, social media and telemedicine could effectively tackle the sudden cease in medical education. Furthermore, trainee's mental health should be safeguarded, and medical students can be involved in the COVID-19 clinical treatment if needed.

Keywords: COVID-19; Medical education; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; medical students; residents; review; tele-education; telemedicine; virtual learning.

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Conflict of interest statement

MGS has received research support from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, unrelated to the present review.

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Figure 1. Flow-diagram of the search strategy.
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