Abstract:

Our presentation discusses the virtual learning experiences of medical students as well as tools and approaches for undergraduate medical education. Clinical medical education has an academic and a practice-based component. The academic part might be adaptable to virtual formats for the most part, but the clinical experience is hard to emulate virtually. Other factors need to be considered, as well. For example, the clinical experience might differ significantly from specialty to specialty. Furthermore, questions of resources, technology and abilities need to be taken into account. For example, while most schools simply had to cancel their virtual clinical rotations, we were able to offer an innovative virtual rotation.

Our paper explores these possibilities as well as limitations of virtual learning in undergraduate medical education in general, and in psychiatry in particular. We will look at the virtual educational elements that we used before the pandemic, the all-virtual education during the pandemic and the hybrid forms that we are utilizing now. Based on student evaluations, we will discuss what worked and what did not. Particularly, we will focus in on what did not create a successful learning experience to gauge what could be considered an opportunity for improvement, and what reaches the limits of virtual medical education.

Keywords:

Medical education.