key: cord-0693724-cvowqxmj
authors: Shibu, Afrah
title: Medical student engagement during the COVID‐19 pandemic—A student perspective
date: 2021-03-08
journal: Med Educ
DOI: 10.1111/medu.14474
sha: 052a1a99d5eb7b31aeca0ff243fb84d609d662be
doc_id: 693724
cord_uid: cvowqxmj

As a medical student involved in frontline roles throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I read Klasen et al's article with interest and would like to provide a student perspective1 . In particular, I would caution the extrapolation of techniques used to involve medical students during the first wave for subsequent waves, as they do not factor in the additional commitments medical students now face, such as a full-time return to clinical placements and assessments.

As a medical student involved in frontline roles throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I read Klasen et al's article with interest and would like to provide a student perspective. 1 In particular, I would caution the extrapolation of techniques used to involve medical students during the first wave for subsequent waves, as they do not factor in the additional commitments medical students now face, such as a full-time return to clinical placements and assessments.

The first wave impelled a shift in healthcare resource allocation towards managing the influx of COVID patients, including redeployment of staff and limiting supernumerary personnel in clinical environments. At our Trust, this meant temporarily halting medical school. This newfound free time for students, coupled with a motivation to support healthcare efforts, led to many students engaging in community work or clinical frontline roles, with positive impacts for the entire community. 2 In the second wave, however, students have returned to medical school full time and are thus required to fulfil challenging academic requirements. Many students feel obliged to continue their frontline roles during the second wave, due to internal motivation as well as external pressures of a strained healthcare environment. 3 These commitments lead to schedules like a full week of placements followed by weekends of 20+ hours in a frontline role.

There is also an implication that these frontline roles directly contribute to students' medical education. While we appreciate the invaluable clinical lessons gained working in these roles, we also note the diminishing returns of some jobs with respect to our learning. To comment on an example in the article, the job of swabbing staff/patients for COVID-19 provides little opportunity for learning beyond honing a practical skill. 4 Notably, time spent in a clinical environment does not directly correlate to the amount of learning achieved. 5 In fact, this precedent may be counterproductive for both student and employer: less effort may go into providing adequate formal clinical exposure and bedside teaching; subsequently, students may seek education during working hours, potentially to the detriment of their assigned role (eg forgoing their nursing assistant tasks in ICU to observe a central line placement).

While the demands of the pandemic have undoubtedly fostered innovative workarounds and long-lasting advancements in medical education, they also create a potential conflict between the role of the medical student as learner and healthcare provider. Without the appropriate psychological and educational support, these new pressures may lead to student burnout and hinder learning.

Afrah Shibu, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2JD, UK.

Email: afrah.shibu@gtc.ox.ac.uk

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7058-357X

Medical student engagement during COVID-19: lessons learned and areas for improvement

Medical students for health-care staff shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic

Medical students and COVID-19: the need for pandemic preparedness

SWAB team instead of SWAT team: medical students as a frontline force during the COVID-19 pandemic

Students' perceptions of time spent during clinical rotations