Abstract Manager

Facilitated and Dedicated Poster

P5 - 02

Accept

I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.

no

General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)

Oral

Education Innovation

Other

Assistant professor

yes

Dynamicity in response to COVID: Reconfiguring the infectious disease clinical skills sessions for preclinical medical students

Responding to covid while maintaining a dynamic and relevant clinical skills curriculum was a challenge and impetus to be creative. At the American University of Beirut medical school, we already trained Medicine 1 students in universal precautions as part of their infectious disease (ID) block, in addition to ID-focused history-taking sessions. The challenge was how to A- implement these sessions virtually and B- make the content more relevant to the pandemic while maintaining the overall course learning objectives.

We instructed the students to record videos from home on hand washing, using ink or any colored materials (to ensure thoroughness), and using their own wardrobe items to demonstrate the process of doning and doffing of personal protective equipment. We also replaced the two ID history-taking sessions with a session on tracing one's journey to the store and back to identify the surfaces one comes in directly contact with, and another session (teamwork-based) where the students had to make a presentation to convince government officials of the necessity to implement a country-wide lockdown, using arguments based on infection control and public health measures.

The output by the students was impressive and the teaching faculty's adaptation to the abrupt modification of the sessions was laudable. Thinking outside the box and taking bold steps proved rewarding and feasible. Additionally, more public health content should be integrated into clinical teaching to inculcate a more global understanding of health and disease.

Clinical skills

Virtual learning

Dynamic curriculum

Undergraduate

Teaching and learning

Leadership

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes