Abstract

Background: The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered a paradigm shift to a curriculum that relies entirely on virtual learning. This study identified the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic-related precautions on clinical year students’ medical education and determined whether the lack of exposure to clinical settings affected their choice of specialty.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 25 medical schools in all 13 regions of Saudi Arabia between December 2020 and May 2021. An online survey using Google Form platform was used to collect the data.
Results: Of the 996 students who responded to the survey, 55.2% were in their final year. The results showed alterations in all aspects of academic settings; almost half of the participants had their written exams (49.1%, n = 475), clinical examinations (objective structured clinical examination; 45.8%, n = 442), and clinical rotations (43%, n = 415) changed. Of the participants, 40.3% (n = 389) stated that the COVID-19 pandemic-related precautions made them reconsider their specialty of interest. The most common reason was a lack of clinical exposure, particularly in terms of engagement with teaching faculty in hospital settings.
Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the lack of preparation, exposure, particularly in terms of engagement with teaching faculty in hospital settings among clinical year medical students affected their confidence, which, in turn, influenced their choice of specialty.

Key words: Coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, medical education, medical students, virtual learning