Reflections shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic for medical education in China, and globally

Abstract

The unprecedented global disruption introduced by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to consider how to best prepare our learners to respond to the wide, interconnected array of global health challenges we face at this historical juncture. In 2019-20, when Professor Wei was a visiting professor at the University of Alberta, we began an East-West dialogue regarding the contributions of the medical/ health humanities to medical education. Following the emergence of the pandemic, we explored a broad literature base as they considered opportunities for reforming medical education to better prepare physicians to address complex global health circumstances and crises. Proposed directions for reorienting medical education include emphasizing systems science and public health competencies, promoting relationally-oriented identity formation and developing humanistic qualities and adaptive leadership ability through both systems-focused, humanities-informed curriculum and pedagogical processes. Ultimately, how successfully our learners respond to ongoing and emergent global health challenges will depend on how well we prepare them for the future. Recognizing increasing worldwide adoption of competency-based medical education, there is a pressing need to explore how to promote, and authentically assess, development of adaptive relational, collectivist competencies and capabilities.