The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical student education: Implementation and outcome of a virtual general surgery curriculum

Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, medical schools were forced to adapt clinical curricula. The University of Washington School of Medicine created a hybrid in person and virtual general surgery clerkship.

Methods: The third year general surgery clerkship was modified to a 4-week in person and 2-week virtual clerkship to accommodate the same number of learners in less time. All students completed a survey to assess the impact of the virtual clerkship.

Results: The students preferred faculty lectures over national modules in the virtual clerkship. 58.6% indicated they would prefer the virtual component before the in-person experience. There was no change from previous years in final grades or clerkship exam scores after this hybrid curriculum.

Conclusions: If the need for a virtual general surgery curriculum arises again in the future, learners value this experience at the beginning of the clerkship and prefer faculty lectures over national modules.