Rebooting medical education with virtual grand rounds during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Social distancing during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated drastic changes in the practice of hospital medicine, including the cancellation of many educational activities. At the same time, the emergence of a new disease with a rapidly evolving knowledge base has mandated timely educational updates. To resolve this conflict in our hospital, we substituted 'traditional' grand rounds with 'virtual' grand rounds delivered over Zoom, consisting of a local situation report and operational update, followed by a specialtyspecific clinical presentation on management of COVID-19. Attendance was greatly increased (mean 384 attendees) compared to traditional grand rounds (mean 44 attendees) and included a diverse audience of medical professionals. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with >80% of responders stating that the sessions would or might inform their clinical practice. COVID-19 has therefore provided an opportunity to modernise grand rounds, and develop a new model matching the needs of medical education beyond the pandemic.

Virtual Versus In-person Grand Rounds in Orthopaedics: A Framework for Implementation and Participant-reported Outcomes

“…Although web-based live communications and team meetings have been mainstays in large corporations and technology companies, [9][10][11][12] the adoption of similar methods of communication and knowledge exchange has been slow in medicine but has been accelerated dramatically in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. 5,[13][14][15] Similar to what has been described in initiatives across other medical specialties, [16][17][18] we found that respondents across all groups appreciated the convenience of attending and the convenience of obtaining CMEs at virtual grand rounds. Virtual grand rounds have allowed faculty and residents who normally have clinic or cases scheduled off-site or soon after grand rounds conclude to easily join in either together at an off-site location or individually from their personal electronic devices.…”

Ward-based learning in a pandemic: an approach to ensuring sustainable medical education for healthcare students

“…[11][12][13][14][15][16] A summary of the key recommendations from the literature review is shown in Table 1 and each is discussed in more detail in the further evaluation section. [2][3][4][5][6][9][10][11][12]17 Further evaluation: The 10 recommendations for medical education in a pandemic Recommendation 1: Students must feel safe in order to learn…”

“…Key themes were extracted from the abstracts on this basis, and nine papers were selected on this basis for full paper review. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Papers describing the impact of the pandemic on medical education but not offering practical suggestions on how to address this were excluded.…”

“…Increased communication has been highlighted in the worldwide literature to support trainees at a challenging time in their education, ensure they feel supported, and reduce stress and anxiety levels. [2][3][4][5][6]17 This recommendation is based on pre-existing literature from the SARS pandemic of 2003. 4 Recommendation 8: Flexibility to exam schedules and attendance requirements…”

You’re on mute: obstetrics and gynecology perspectives on the transition to virtual grand rounds

“…Single-center studies of faculty perspectives in other specialties have shown positive correlations with improved attendance. 2,3 This multicenter observational study sought to explore the OB-GYN experience with VGR and to assess perceptions by role (educator vs trainee).…”