COVID-19 and Virtual Medical Student Education

INTRODUCTION On March 17 2020, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) released guidance strongly advising schools to remove medical students from direct patient care in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19. Within a week, the vast majority of medical stu-dents were pulled from their classrooms and clinical rotations. At the same time, course directors were forced to find creative ways to continue medical education on digital platforms. Although students and professors were able to quickly transi-tion to virtual lectures and discussions, other necessary learning experiences including taking patient histories and practicing physical exams were severely limited. The COVID-19 pan-demic has posed unique challenges to medical education to adapt and advance their teaching methods. Even though there is no substitute to in-person learning, certain elements of vir-tual learning will likely remain postpandemic. Thus, the medi-cal education community must learn how to maximize the virtual learning environment for medical students.