As the world held its breath for news surrounding COVID-19 and hunkered down amidst stay-at-home orders, medical students across the U.S. wondered if they would be called to serve on the front lines of the pandemic. Medical school administrators faced the challenge of protecting learners while also minimizing harm to their medical education. This balancing act raised critical questions in medical education as institutions reacted to changing guidelines. COVID-19 has punctuated already contentious areas of medical education and has forced institutions and organizations to take quick action. From the perspectives of a recent medical school graduate and current resident (ES) and a practicing clinician-educator (SHG), we examine the pandemic’s impact on undergraduate medical education through an ethical lens. First, we explore the value of medical education, what drives this value, and how COVID-19 may alter it. We next consider student choice and how shifts toward utilitarianism in healthcare during a pandemic may affect learning and career exploration. Then, we inquire how access to technology may impact the experience of medical students from diverse backgrounds and varied institutions during a rapid shift to socially distanced learning. We identify vulnerabilities for students at several phases of the journey: premedical, preclinical, clinical, and preparation for residency. Finally, we address the hidden curriculum of COVID-19, its potential erosion of empathy among current medical students, and possible long-term consequences for future physicians and patients.

中文翻译：

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COVID 19：本科医学教育暂停的原因和创新的催化剂


当全世界都在屏息以待有关 COVID-19 的消息并在居家令中蹲下时，美国各地的医科学生想知道他们是否会被召唤到大流行的前线服务。医学院管理者面临着保护学习者的挑战，同时还要尽量减少对他们医学教育的伤害。随着各机构对不断变化的指导方针做出反应，这种平衡行为在医学教育中提出了关键问题。 COVID-19 加剧了医学教育领域本已存在争议的领域，并迫使机构和组织迅速采取行动。我们从一名医学院应届毕业生、现任住院医师 (ES) 和一名执业临床医生教育者 (SHG) 的角度出发，从道德角度审视了这一流行病对本科医学教育的影响。首先，我们探讨医学教育的价值、推动这一价值的因素以及 COVID-19 可能如何改变它。接下来我们考虑学生的选择，以及大流行期间医疗保健向功利主义的转变可能如何影响学习和职业探索。然后，我们询问在快速转向社交远程学习期间，技术的获取如何影响来自不同背景和不同机构的医学生的体验。我们识别学生在整个旅程的几个阶段的弱点：医学前、临床前、临床和住院医师准备。最后，我们讨论了 COVID-19 的隐藏课程、它对当前医学生同理心的潜在侵蚀，以及对未来医生和患者可能产生的长期后果。