Self-Assessment of Competencies in Final-Semester Medical Students Acquired through Different Teaching and Learning Modalities: A Natural Experiment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic led to abrupt changes in medical education, with virtual education becoming an essential strategy to maintain medical training continuity. However, evidence of its outcomes is still lacking. Objectives: To identify differences between face-to-face and virtual teaching methodologies in final-year medical students, measured by self-assessment of competencies. Methods: An observational study of the natural distribution among finalyear Medicine students. Competency self-assessment and summative evaluation results were evaluated across three different groups (face-to-face, virtual, and bimodal). A survey was conducted to assess perceptions of the virtual methodology. Results: Eighty-three students agreed to participate. Two-thirds experienced technical difficulties in the virtual modality. Statistically significant median differences were found favoring the face-to-face methodology for competencies in home visits (p = 0.03), clinical rounds (p = 0.021), and anticoagulation (p = 0.002); favoring the bimodal methodology for osteoarthritis management competency (p = 0.031); and favoring the virtual methodology for lung cancer screening competency (p = 0.02). Although the final grade showed statistically significant differences in one course, it was not academically relevant. Conclusions: Considering competency self-assessment, it is possible to acquire most clinical competencies in cancer and geriatrics through virtual methodologies similarly to what is obtained in face-to-face methodology in an emotionally safe educational environment.

Keywords

• clinical competence
• distance education
• medical education
• self-assessment