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970. Medical Student Engagement with the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Increased Through Participation in a Preclinical Elective

BACKGROUND: The medical field’s response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic required a multifaceted approach. Medical students were often excluded from the initial phases of pandemic response, resulting in feelings of disengagement. This study aimed to determine if offering educatio...

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Autores principales: Cummins, Kaelyn C, Naeger, Katherine, Kulkarni, Prathit A
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8690829/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofab466.1165
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author Cummins, Kaelyn C
Naeger, Katherine
Kulkarni, Prathit A
author_facet Cummins, Kaelyn C
Naeger, Katherine
Kulkarni, Prathit A
author_sort Cummins, Kaelyn C
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The medical field’s response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic required a multifaceted approach. Medical students were often excluded from the initial phases of pandemic response, resulting in feelings of disengagement. This study aimed to determine if offering educational experiences on current events related to the COVID-19 pandemic could increase medical students’ understanding of, and engagement with, the pandemic. METHODS: In Fall 2020, an elective course reviewing several aspects of the COVID-19 response was implemented. Preclinical medical students attended a discussion-based seminar series given by expert faculty on a variety of topics including pathophysiology, vaccine development, telemedicine, and others. Upon course completion, students were asked to complete a survey quantifying their understanding of the overall COVID-19 response, understanding of various individual facets of the response, and feelings of personal engagement on a Likert scale from 1-5, with 5 representing the most understanding or engagement. The differences in pre-course and post-course mean scores were compared using a Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test for each question. RESULTS: A total of 65 students completed the course; 35 (54%) students filled out the final course survey. Results showed significant improvement in students’ perceived holistic understanding of the pandemic response (2.67 pre-course vs. 4.36 post-course; p < 0.001), and their feelings of personal engagement (3.06 pre-course vs. 4.33 post-course; p < 0.001). Students also reported significantly increased feelings of understanding for each individual facet of the pandemic response reviewed during the course (8 questions total, all p-values < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Preclinical medical student participation in a course reviewing COVID-19 pandemic response significantly increased feelings of engagement with and understanding of the medical field’s response to the pandemic. Students showed improved understanding of each aspect of the pandemic response that was covered in the elective. Therefore, it appears that seminar- and discussion-based electives can be a useful tool for fostering preclinical student engagement in current events in medicine. DISCLOSURES: Prathit A. Kulkarni, M.D., Vessel Health, Inc. (Grant/Research Support)
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spelling pubmed-86908292022-01-05 970. Medical Student Engagement with the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Increased Through Participation in a Preclinical Elective Cummins, Kaelyn C Naeger, Katherine Kulkarni, Prathit A Open Forum Infect Dis Poster Abstracts BACKGROUND: The medical field’s response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic required a multifaceted approach. Medical students were often excluded from the initial phases of pandemic response, resulting in feelings of disengagement. This study aimed to determine if offering educational experiences on current events related to the COVID-19 pandemic could increase medical students’ understanding of, and engagement with, the pandemic. METHODS: In Fall 2020, an elective course reviewing several aspects of the COVID-19 response was implemented. Preclinical medical students attended a discussion-based seminar series given by expert faculty on a variety of topics including pathophysiology, vaccine development, telemedicine, and others. Upon course completion, students were asked to complete a survey quantifying their understanding of the overall COVID-19 response, understanding of various individual facets of the response, and feelings of personal engagement on a Likert scale from 1-5, with 5 representing the most understanding or engagement. The differences in pre-course and post-course mean scores were compared using a Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test for each question. RESULTS: A total of 65 students completed the course; 35 (54%) students filled out the final course survey. Results showed significant improvement in students’ perceived holistic understanding of the pandemic response (2.67 pre-course vs. 4.36 post-course; p < 0.001), and their feelings of personal engagement (3.06 pre-course vs. 4.33 post-course; p < 0.001). Students also reported significantly increased feelings of understanding for each individual facet of the pandemic response reviewed during the course (8 questions total, all p-values < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Preclinical medical student participation in a course reviewing COVID-19 pandemic response significantly increased feelings of engagement with and understanding of the medical field’s response to the pandemic. Students showed improved understanding of each aspect of the pandemic response that was covered in the elective. Therefore, it appears that seminar- and discussion-based electives can be a useful tool for fostering preclinical student engagement in current events in medicine. DISCLOSURES: Prathit A. Kulkarni, M.D., Vessel Health, Inc. (Grant/Research Support) Oxford University Press 2021-12-04 /pmc/articles/PMC8690829/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofab466.1165 Text en © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Poster Abstracts
Cummins, Kaelyn C
Naeger, Katherine
Kulkarni, Prathit A
970. Medical Student Engagement with the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Increased Through Participation in a Preclinical Elective
title 970. Medical Student Engagement with the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Increased Through Participation in a Preclinical Elective
title_full 970. Medical Student Engagement with the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Increased Through Participation in a Preclinical Elective
title_fullStr 970. Medical Student Engagement with the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Increased Through Participation in a Preclinical Elective
title_full_unstemmed 970. Medical Student Engagement with the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Increased Through Participation in a Preclinical Elective
title_short 970. Medical Student Engagement with the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Increased Through Participation in a Preclinical Elective
title_sort 970. medical student engagement with the covid-19 pandemic is increased through participation in a preclinical elective
topic Poster Abstracts
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8690829/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofab466.1165
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