The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on internal medicine clerkship by comparing exam results and feedback

COVID-19 pandemic affected the world in many ways. Internal medicine education needed to be shaped according to the requirements of this pandemic. The aim of this study is to understand the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on internal medicine education and evaluate the newly introduced methods for education. Fourth-year medical students of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic terms are evaluated in this study. Exam results and feedback scores of students are obtained. Assessment methods in pre-pandemic group are face-to-face written exam and OSCE exam, whereas in post-pandemic group, online written exam and OSCE exam are used. Feedback forms are the same in both groups. The median written exam score was higher in the post-pandemic group than in the pre-pandemic group (84 vs 80, respectively, p = 0.003). There is no statistical significance among OSCE exam grades of the two groups. Feedback scores for bedsides were slightly higher in the post-pandemic group, and there is no statistical significance. Written and OSCE exam results in the post-pandemic group were as good as in the pre-pandemic group. We realized that the learning objectives in classical lecture can also be achieved from video recordings. Although not statistically proven, we claim that increasing the time spent in clinical practice will yield more experience to the students.

Automated summary

This study evaluates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on internal medicine education and assesses the effectiveness of newly introduced educational methods. The results show that the post-pandemic group had slightly higher written exam scores compared to the pre-pandemic group, while there was no significant difference in OSCE exam grades. The study also suggests that video recordings can be used to achieve learning objectives for classical lectures. Although further research is needed, it is claimed that increasing the time spent in clinical practice can provide students with more experience.