The Impact Of COVID-19 On Clinical Education: A Minority Student Perspective
Author: Saron Checkole, OMS 4, Ohio University: Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
Faculty Mentor: Sanjay A. Patel, MD FACP FHM, Associate Program Director, Internal Medicine, Riverside Methodist Hospital (OhioHealth)
I was a second-year medical student traveling from Columbus to Minneapolis to visit my family during my spring break. I booked my flight for a week-long trip. I packed only a carry-on suitcase and a backpack with my laptop—which included the two most important books I owned, First Aid for the USMLE and OMT Review Book. I planned to use some of my time away to study for my upcoming board exams. A few days into my trip, with news and panic circulating about the novel COVID-19 pandemic, I received notice that my medical school planned to shut down and extend spring break indefinitely. All classes were canceled and so was my flight back home. I was unprepared for what was to come, waiting patiently like the rest of the world. Eventually, a decision to move to all in-person classes to a fully remote platform through the remainder of my spring semester was made. My scheduled exams were canceled. Medical students were removed from clinical rotations. The months ahead were filled with fear, anxiety, and uncertainty.
The adaptation to online learning surely was necessary for public safety. As learners, though, we sorely lacked engaging, interactive discussions. It created opportunity gaps that put low-income students at a disadvantage relative to some peers and exacerbated the limitations of standardized tests. In addition to the disruption of medical education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we found ourselves in the midst of widespread protests and racial injustice after the death of George Floyd, a young Black man, who was brutally killed by a Minneapolis police officer. As a minority medical student living in Minnesota at that time, it was difficult to focus on online medical courses while being reminded and surrounded by social injustices. The scientific pandemic of COVID-19 had unearthed and brought to the forefront the long-hidden pandemic of racial injustice. These situations prompted discussions in online small group sessions, but the impacts felt by minority students, was insurmountable. Students of color were left with burdens of explaining racial injustice and inequality in addition to meeting expectations to excel in classes and board exams while dealing with a pandemic.
Medical students were also adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic from a mental health standpoint. Several testing centers canceled test dates for upcoming board exams, leaving students studying for months on end causing burnout. Medical students that lived with families of low socioeconomic status had difficulties studying at home due to lack of study space. Multiple medical students were also primary caregivers of family members with COVID-19 infection, taking away study time and leading to increased anxiety during board season. Some students also faced the burden of having rotations assigned at the same clinical sites in which they lost family members due to COVID, adding to the stressors of learning while dealing with grief. The coalescence of these factors created a major discrepancy in medical student education coming from various backgrounds.
After completing my board exam, I started my clinical year with a rotation in pediatrics. COVID-19 was still at its peak and there were limitations to patients we were allowed to see in clinic. This included any patients with a fever and cough, a near-ubiquitous presenting symptom for any non-well child visit. I thought to myself, “How am I going to learn to take care of patients if I am not going to be allowed to see, talk to, and examine them?” This impeded my ability to take care of sick kids during my rotation and affected my clinical education in the pediatric ward. This applied to my peers in different rotations; students in the emergency department had similar limitations in patients they could see and students on surgery had decreased opportunities to learn with elective surgeries canceled.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected medical students from pre-clinical to clinical years and has required students to become adaptable to uncertainty and adversity. In addition to the pandemic, minority medical students have also been affected by racial injustice and have been feeling isolated with a lack of community support through these difficult times. I hope this causes medical education directors and policymakers to consider the impact that the pandemic has on students and are able to accommodate for students’ individual needs.
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