Ward-based learning in a pandemic: an approach to ensuring sustainable medical education for healthcare students

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused significant disruption to medical education, requiring those involved in its delivery to radically revise teaching programmes to ensure continuation of delivery of training to future healthcare professionals.

We describe our experience of implementing an infection teaching programme on a COVID-19 ward at a London teaching hospital affiliated to University College London (UCL) Medical School during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We performed a scoping literature review of all papers published on medical education delivery in the pandemic between January 2020 – May 2021. We used the results from this, along with our pre-existing knowledge of medical education theory, to summarise 10 key learning recommendations for planning medical education in a pandemic.

SARS-CoV-2 is unlikely to be the only significant interruption to medical education we see in our lifetimes. We should develop robust and sustainable teaching programmes with the aim of reducing disruption in the future.