PMID- 36482397
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20221215
LR  - 20221215
IS  - 1472-6920 (Electronic)
IS  - 1472-6920 (Linking)
VI  - 22
IP  - 1
DP  - 2022 Dec 9
TI  - Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student experiences during rural placements in 
      Australia: findings from a national multi-centre survey.
PG  - 852
LID - 10.1186/s12909-022-03927-1 [doi]
LID - 852
AB  - BACKGROUND: The aim of this national study was to explore the learning 
      experiences of Australia's medical students who trained rurally during the 
      COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. METHODS: A cross-sectional, national multi-centre 
      survey was conducted in 2020, through the Federation of Rural Australian Medical 
      Educators (FRAME). Participants were medical students who had completed an 
      extended Rural Clinical School (RCS) training placement (>/= 12 months). A bespoke 
      set of COVID-19 impact questions were incorporated into the annual FRAME survey, 
      to capture COVID-19-related student experiences in 2020. Pre-pandemic (2019 FRAME 
      survey data) comparisons were also explored. RESULTS: FRAME survey data were 
      obtained from 464 students in 2020 (51.7% response rate), compared with available 
      data from 668 students in 2019 (75.6% response rate). Most students expressed 
      concern regarding the pandemic's impact on the quality of their learning (80%) or 
      missed clinical learning (58%); however, students reported being well-supported 
      by the various learning and support strategies implemented by the RCSs across 
      Australia. Notably, comparisons to pre-pandemic (2019) participants of the 
      general RCS experience found higher levels of student support (strongly agree 
      58.9% vs 42.4%, p < 0.001) and wellbeing (strongly agree 49.6% vs 42.4%, 
      p = 0.008) amongst the 2020 participants. Students with more than one year of RCS 
      experience compared to one RCS year felt better supported with clinical skills 
      learning opportunities (p = 0.015) and less affected by COVID-19 in their exam 
      performance (p = 0.009). CONCLUSIONS: This study has provided evidence of both 
      the level of concern relating to learning quality as well as the positive impact 
      of the various learning and support strategies implemented by the RCSs during the 
      pandemic in 2020. RCSs should further evaluate the strategies implemented to 
      identify those that are worth sustaining into the post-pandemic period.
CI  - (c) 2022. The Author(s).
FAU - Martin, Priya
AU  - Martin P
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-2092-6551
AD  - Rural Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Locked 
      Bag 9009, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia. Priya.Martin@uq.edu.au.
FAU - McGrail, Matthew
AU  - McGrail M
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-6901-8845
AD  - Rural Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Locked 
      Bag 9009, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia.
FAU - Fox, Jordan
AU  - Fox J
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-8367-5297
AD  - Rural Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Locked 
      Bag 9009, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia.
FAU - Ostini, Remo
AU  - Ostini R
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-3931-2701
AD  - Rural Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Locked 
      Bag 9009, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia.
FAU - Doyle, Zelda
AU  - Doyle Z
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-8648-1383
AD  - Rural Clinical School, School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Sydney, 
      Australia.
FAU - Playford, Denese
AU  - Playford D
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-5254-4905
AD  - Rural Clinical School of Western Australia, Medical Schools of UWA and Notre 
      Dame, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
FAU - Beattie, Jessica
AU  - Beattie J
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-3339-1418
AD  - Rural Community Clinical School, School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong, 
      Australia.
FAU - Isaac, Vivian
AU  - Isaac V
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-1525-8090
AD  - College of Medicine and Public Health, Rural and Remote Health SA, Flinders 
      University, Adelaide, Australia.
FAU - Fuller, Lara
AU  - Fuller L
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-1678-0916
AD  - Rural Community Clinical School, School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong, 
      Australia.
FAU - Allen, Penny
AU  - Allen P
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-1945-8049
AD  - Rural Clinical School, College of Health and Medicine, The University of 
      Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
FAU - Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan, Srinivas
AU  - Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan S
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-1333-374X
AD  - Rural Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Locked 
      Bag 9009, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Multicenter Study
DEP - 20221209
PL  - England
TA  - BMC Med Educ
JT  - BMC medical education
JID - 101088679
SB  - IM
MH  - Humans
MH  - *COVID-19/epidemiology
MH  - Pandemics
MH  - Cross-Sectional Studies
MH  - Australia/epidemiology
MH  - Schools
PMC - PMC9733068
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - COVID-19 pandemic
OT  - Clinical placements
OT  - Medical education
OT  - Rural placements
COIS- All authors declare no competing interests.
EDAT- 2022/12/10 06:00
MHDA- 2022/12/15 06:00
PMCR- 2022/12/09
CRDT- 2022/12/09 01:04
PHST- 2022/04/20 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2022/11/28 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2022/12/09 01:04 [entrez]
PHST- 2022/12/10 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2022/12/15 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2022/12/09 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1186/s12909-022-03927-1 [pii]
AID - 3927 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/s12909-022-03927-1 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - BMC Med Educ. 2022 Dec 9;22(1):852. doi: 10.1186/s12909-022-03927-1.