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The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Medical Education: a Systematic Review of Distance Learning, Student’s Perceptions, and Mental Health

Silveira, EA; de Sousa Romeiro, AM; Junger, AL; Ramos, ACF; Alves, PM; Noll, M; de Oliveira, C; (2023) The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Medical Education: a Systematic Review of Distance Learning, Student’s Perceptions, and Mental Health. Journal of Human Growth and Development , 33 (3) pp. 405-419. 10.36311/JHGD.V33.14647. Green open access

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Abstract

INTRODUCTION: the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on mortality and several adverse health outcomes. It has also affected education as schools and universities had to adapt to remote learning due to social isolation strategies. OBJECTIVE: to analyze the pandemic’s impact on medical education including undergraduate and graduate students and lecturers, as follow: i) teaching methods adopted by education institutes during shutdown, ii) students and lecturers’ perceptions and iii) impacts on students’ mental health. METHODS: this systematic review includes the following study designs: cross-sectional, surveys, case-control, cohort, and clinical trials. The literature search was performed in four databases: PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and SciELO . The risk of bias and the quality of the evidence were evaluated. RESULTS: a total of 1,576 articles were identified through searching databases, and 40 articles were included. We found the use of several teaching methods such as virtual platforms and social media, pre-recorded videos, discussion forums and others. Student’s challenges related to interference during online study such as family distractions, lack of a study room, challenges with internet connectivity, difficulties in communication between students and lecturers, gaps encountered during clinical skills learning. Lecturers’ challenges were difficulty in grasping students’ progress and learning outcomes and the lack of experience in online teaching. Only five studies explored mental health issues of medical students and found the occurrence of depression, anxiety, and stress. However, their prevalence was not comparable due to the use of different diagnostic instruments. CONCLUSION: there has been a wide range of teaching methods implemented for distance learning of medical students globally. The perceptions of medical students about these methods and their impact were also varied. Infrastructure, family, and curriculum problems represented the greatest difficulties in adherence and satisfaction with distance learning. However, the flexibility of digital learning was one of the factors that helped reduce these problems. Regarding mental health, the occurrence of anxiety, depression, and stress was reported.

Type: Article
Title: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Medical Education: a Systematic Review of Distance Learning, Student’s Perceptions, and Mental Health
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.36311/JHGD.V33.14647
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.36311/jhgd.v33.14647
Language: English
Additional information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Keywords: Medical education, distance learning, COVID-19, mental health, depression, anxiety
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10187255
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