key: cord-0760841-jqqz63kt
authors: Marshall, Ariela L.; Wolanskyj-Spinner, Alexandra
title: COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities for Educators and Generation Z Learners
date: 2020-04-20
journal: Mayo Clin Proc
DOI: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2020.04.015
sha: 9e205e8dd55a748321a1c946aa4b8dc57a2ec81e
doc_id: 760841
cord_uid: jqqz63kt

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Finally, our response to student moral distress in the COVID-19 pandemic is essential to address.

At baseline, medical students experience high rates of burnout and depression than the general US population related to their learning and working environments. 7, 8 The COVID-19 pandemic will likely lead to increased distress given that students' learning environments and plans for the future changed dramatically in a very short period of time. It is essential that educational institutions and medical educators with leadership positions demonstrate an active involvement in student distress management.

Supportive leaders can work to normalize stress as a response to rapidly changing life circumstances and emphasize that seeking professional help for stress management is a healthy adult response to distress.

Schools must also provide adequate (ideally free) access to clinicians trained in stress management.

Additionally, as students move to primarily electronic means of communication, online support communities can be developed both for mentorship and leadership updates from educational leaders as well as peer support tools and engagement tools for students. Social networking sites receive positive feedback from medical student learners at baseline, 9, 10 and this is an opportunity to develop specialized support communities that will help students manage their emotional and social needs during this period of increased stress. Future studies should address sources of distress during the pandemic and interventions which were particularly successful in mitigating distress, so that these interventions can be adopted by medical educators for future challenging situations.

As the medical community fights the COVID-19 pandemic together, we must nourish and protect not only our practicing healthcare workforce but also our medical trainees, who will become the next generation healthcare workforce. Generation Z medical students are ready to learn and seek support in new and innovative ways. As educators, we must be ready to help them.

Multigenerational challenges and the future of graduate medical education

Is medical education ready for generation Z?

Several ways Generation Z may shape the medical school landscape

The usage of social networking sites by medical students for educational purposes: A metaanalysis and systematic review

Everything online?! -An analysis of internet-based media use by teachers in medicine

Available at: www.blackboard

Burnout among US medical students, residents, and early career physicians relative to the general U.S. population

A narrative review on burnout experienced by medical students and residents

The use of social-networking sites in medical education

Social media use in medical education: a systematic review