J Educ Eval Health Prof.
2023;20(1):37. 10.3352/jeehp.2023.20.37.
Negative effects on medical students’ scores for clinical performance during the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan: a comparative study
- Yuan EJS
1,2,3 - Huang SS1,3,4
- Hsu CA1,3,5
- Lirng JF3,6
- Li TH1,3,7
- Huang CC1,3,8,9
- Yang YY1,3,9
- Li CP3,8,10,11
- Chen CH1,3
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Medical Education, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 2Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 3School of Medicine, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
- 4School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
- 5Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 6Department of Radiology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 7Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 8Division of Clinical Skills Training, Department of Medical Education, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 9Clinical Innovation Center, Department of Medical Education, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 10Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- 11Therapeutic and Research Center of Pancreatic Cancer, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- KMID: 2552419
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2023.20.37
Abstract
- Purpose
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has heavily impacted medical clinical education in Taiwan. Medical curricula have been altered to minimize exposure and limit transmission. This study investigated the effect of COVID-19 on Taiwanese medical students’ clinical performance using online standardized evaluation systems and explored the factors influencing medical education during the pandemic.
Methods
Medical students were scored from 0 to 100 based on their clinical performance from 1/1/2018 to 6/31/2021. The students were placed into pre-COVID-19 (before 2/1/2020) and midst-COVID-19 (on and after 2/1/2020) groups. Each group was further categorized into COVID-19-affected specialties (pulmonary, infectious, and emergency medicine) and other specialties. Generalized estimating equations (GEEs) were used to compare and examine the effects of relevant variables on student performance.
Results
In total, 16,944 clinical scores were obtained for COVID-19-affected specialties and other specialties. For the COVID-19-affected specialties, the midst-COVID-19 score (88.513.52) was significantly lower than the pre-COVID-19 score (90.143.55) (P<0.0001). For the other specialties, the midst-COVID-19 score (88.323.68) was also significantly lower than the pre-COVID-19 score (90.063.58) (P<0.0001). There were 1,322 students (837 males and 485 females). Male students had significantly lower scores than female students (89.333.68 vs. 89.993.66, P=0.0017). GEE analysis revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic (unstandardized beta coefficient=-1.99, standard error [SE]=0.13, P<0.0001), COVID-19-affected specialties (B=0.26, SE=0.11, P=0.0184), female students (B=1.10, SE=0.20, P<0.0001), and female attending physicians (B=-0.19, SE=0.08, P=0.0145) were independently associated with students’ scores.
Conclusion
COVID-19 negatively impacted medical students' clinical performance, regardless of their specialty. Female students outperformed male students, irrespective of the pandemic.
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