key: cord-0966097-7efhmydl
authors: Newman, Noah A.; Lattouf, Omar M.
title: Coalition for medical education—A call to action: A proposition to adapt clinical medical education to meet the needs of students and other healthcare learners during COVID‐19
date: 2020-04-30
journal: J Card Surg
DOI: 10.1111/jocs.14590
sha: 4b10f9fcf58a2c25b80307b3d8ac5ff26220a3bd
doc_id: 966097
cord_uid: 7efhmydl

With the ongoing coronavirus, journals and the media have extensively covered the impacts on doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and other healthcare workers. However, one group that has rarely been mentioned despite being significantly impacted is medical students and medical education overall. This piece, prepared by both a medical student and a cardiothoracic surgeon with a long career in academic medicine, discusses the recent history of medical education and how it has led to issues now with distance‐based learning due to COVID‐19. It concludes with a call to action for the medical education system to adapt so it can meet the needs of healthcare learners during COVID‐19 and even beyond.

the first 2 years of basic sciences have primarily been held in large lecture halls, whereas the latter 2 years are held mostly in the clinical setting. Within the last few years there has been a dramatic shift in the learning structure of the first 2 years due to digital platforms largely replacing in-person learning. These innovations have provided students with flexibility and efficiency that they dramatically prefer.

In contrast, comparable platforms for the third and fourth year curriculums have largely been absent.

Postgraduate medical and surgical education traditionally had inclass didactic sessions such as Grand Rounds, Morbidity and Mortality Meetings, Resident Presentations and other learning opportunities requiring group participation. Furthermore, continuing medical education for practicing physicians also included small and large group meetings, seminars, as well as local, regional, national and international conferences that bring varying sizes of practicing physicians to learn and teach one another. These important educational traditions have been part of our learning experience for many decades and more. 

Guidance on medical students' participation in direct patient contact activities. AAMC