Impact of Online-Only Instruction on Preclinical Medical Education in the Setting of COVID-19: Comparative Analysis of Online-Only Vs. Hybrid Instructions on Academic Performance and Mental Wellbeing

INTRODUCTION: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many medical schools were forced to adopt a virtual learning environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of online-only instruction compared to online and in-person (hybrid) instruction on educational performance, wellbeing, and course satisfaction. METHODS: We performed a descriptive cross-sectional survey of second-year medical students following a transition to online-only and hybrid instruction. Of the 198 total students, we collected 61 responses (42.6% [N = 26] male, 55.7% [N = 34] female, 1.6% [N = 1] preferred not to specify). 49.2% of the participants were in the online-only group. 50.8% of the participants were in the hybrid group. RESULTS: There was a significantly lower mean final grade in the online-only group compared to the hybrid group (p = 0.04293). In contrast, there was no significant difference in measures of wellbeing (p = 0.6858) or course satisfaction (p = 0.9332). CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that hybrid instructional delivery may be more effective than online-only instructional delivery for academic performance. However, there was no significant difference in mental wellbeing between either form of teaching. Students report that mental wellbeing was considerably impacted by factors related to the home environment as well as by unique concerns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. While the online-only model may have been the safest—and only—option for many medical schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, we advise caution in transitioning to a complete online format without carefully designing the online curriculum to account for the negative impact it may have on student education. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-022-01650-6.