Solutions, enablers and barriers to online learning in clinical medical education during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid review

Rodrigo Almeida Bastos, Danielle Rachel dos Santos Carvalho, Carolina Felipe Soares Brandão, Ellen Cristina Bergamasco, John Sandars, Dario Cecilio-Fernandes*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Aims: 

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a major disruption to undergraduate and postgraduate clinical medical education. The aim of this rapid review was to identify and synthesize published literature relating to the solutions, enablers and barriers to online learning implemented in clinical medical education during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: 

All articles published before March 2021 in peer-reviewed journals, including MedEdPublish, that described authors’ experience of online learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A descriptive analysis of the solutions and a qualitative template analysis of enablers and barriers. 

Results: 

87 articles were identified for inclusion. Face to face teaching was maintained with interactive approaches between learners and/or learners and teachers. Several innovative solutions were identified. The enablers were a readiness and rapid response by institutions, with innovation by teachers. The barriers were the lack of planning and resources, usability problems and limited interactivity between teachers and students. 

Conclusions: 

Important and timely evidence was obtained that can inform future policy, practice and research. The findings highlighted the urgent need to use rapid design and implementation methods with greater explicit descriptions in published articles to ensure applicability to other contexts.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)187-195
Number of pages9
JournalMedical Teacher
Volume44
Issue number2
Early online date5 Oct 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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