Brought about by necessity: how the pandemic accelerated a transformation of continuing professional development

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on medical education and accelerated an evolution in continuing professional development that was already underway. Physicians around the world have had to quickly learn a new evolving clinical entity and do so in a virtual manner. As local and international travel ceased, academic and practice deliberations on diagnosis and treatment of novel diseases which historically have occurred during in-person conferences have shifted to virtual forums enabled with technology and social media. Medical educators have the added complexity of learning to teach and assess trainees virtually as remote learning has become a necessity. National and international organisations have increased collaborative efforts to ensure the latest clinical information is disseminated promptly to front-line physicians. The shift to virtual learning has democratised clinical information, allowing for wider global participation and transforming how we approach continuing professional development.

Keywords: COVID-19; continuing professional development; family medicine; medical education; virtual learning.