The rescue of medical education crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic

Sergio A. Trevethan-Cravioto, Dirección de Enseñanza, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Ciudad de México, México
Carlos R. Sierra-Fernández, Department of Electrophysiology. National Institute of Cardiology Ignacio Chavez, Mexico City, Mexico
Mauricio López-Meneses, Dirección de Enseñanza, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Ciudad de México, México
Francisco Azar-Manzur, Department of Medical Education, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Mexico City, Mexico
Vanesa Jiménez-Garcés, Department of Medical Education, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Mexico City, Mexico
Jorge Gaspar-Hernández, General Direction, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Mexico City, Mexico

Background and Objective: The ravages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have affected medical education by losing the tutorial teaching that we carried out in out Institution. Method: The strategies implemented through information and communication technologies are described in this article. Results: With the strategies carried out, it was possible to continue with all the theoretical education virtually at a distance, including the daily hospital rounds, the presentation of clinical cases, the remote analysis of laboratory and cabinet methods, as well as the teaching of the physical examination and the acquisition of diagnostic aid methods. In addition, the number of attendants for the weekly academic general session of the institute increased from 100 in-person attendants to 500 virtual attendants (average), with approximately 5000 reproductions of the recorded sessions. The advantages and disadvantages of these new techniques and the challenges for the future are discussed in this manuscript. Conclusions: Undoubtedly, the pandemic has caused damage to the teaching of two generations of medical students during 2020 and 2021, and we are still afraid that, in 2022, it will persist. Therefore, in our opinion, the medical education implemented by us is not ideal, but, at least, it constitutes a good palliative for the harm that the pandemic caused to medical education.

Keywords: COVID-19. Medical education. Students in pandemic. Effect of COVID-19 in medical education. Virtual education. Medical students in pandemic.