Hart Joanne, Kaur Rajneesh, Jeremy Richmond
Sydney, Australia School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney.
Med Sci Educ. 2023 Mar 30;33(2):523-530. doi: 10.1007/s40670-023-01777-0. eCollection 2023 Apr.
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected tertiary science and medical education, with significant impact on research-related activities. Research projects are a mandatory requirement of the Doctor of Medicine (MD) Program at the University of Sydney, and medical student projects are delivered across multiple sites in metropolitan and rural New South Wales, Australia. Several cohorts of medical students had projects that were affected by COVID-19. The aims of this study were to determine the impact of COVID-19 on medical student research projects and describe the measures taken to rescope projects, to support students in meeting the learning objectives of the program. Mandatory submission statements for all medical student research project scientific reports for 2020-2022 were examined for reports of the effect of COVID-19 on the project, including COVID-19 related delays, downsizing and the need to change research project types. During the study period, a total of 760 student reports were submitted, of which 217 (28.7%) were affected by COVID-19. About 50% were significantly delayed, 30% were downsized, and 6% required completely new projects. Rescoping arrangements implemented facilitated the successful completion of projects. Overall, the final student grades for the research projects were unaffected by COVID-19 or the related project rescoping. Whilst significantly impacted by COVID-19, medical student research projects were completed with provision of appropriate rescoping plans and academic support. Ensuring projects have a documented contingency plan secured projects as the pandemic progressed and will be a useful safeguard for all future project delivery.
新冠疫情对高等科学和医学教育产生了不利影响，对与研究相关的活动造成了重大冲击。研究项目是悉尼大学医学博士（MD）项目的一项强制性要求，医学生项目在澳大利亚新南威尔士州的大都市和农村的多个地点开展。有几批医学生的项目受到了新冠疫情的影响。本研究的目的是确定新冠疫情对医学生研究项目的影响，并描述为调整项目范围所采取的措施，以支持学生实现该项目的学习目标。我们审查了2020 - 2022年所有医学生研究项目科学报告的强制性提交声明，以了解新冠疫情对项目的影响报告，包括与新冠疫情相关的延误、规模缩减以及更改研究项目类型的必要性。在研究期间，共提交了760份学生报告，其中217份（28.7%）受到新冠疫情的影响。约50%的项目严重延迟，30%的项目规模缩减，6%的项目需要全新的项目。实施的调整安排促进了项目的顺利完成。总体而言，研究项目的最终学生成绩未受新冠疫情或相关项目调整的影响。虽然受到新冠疫情的显著影响，但通过提供适当的调整计划和学术支持，医学生研究项目得以完成。确保项目有一份记录在案的应急计划，在疫情发展过程中保障了项目的进行，并且对未来所有项目的交付都将是一个有用的保障措施。
