Dear Editor,
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the new COVID-19 disease as a pandemic. By that time there were already more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4291 people had lost their lives [1]. Seven days later, the National Government of Colombia announced a health alert and a national curfew, with total closure of educational institutions [2].
With the announcement of the pandemic state, the need to continue virtual working and studying produced chaos at the national level, since few institutions in Colombia awarding primary, baccalaureate and university degrees had adequate virtual platforms. The faculties of Health Sciences where clinical teaching is taught, were left in limbo and without knowing how to meet the practical needs of their students, although virtual teaching could be done through methodological techniques, problem-based learning, information technology communications and other with the aim to supply and enrich medical students in areas of health sciences in an academic manner [3,4].
However, the consequences of this form of virtual teaching and learning will only be reflected at the moment when the students return start to clinical practices and face-to-face exams, a situation that currently occurs.
In some health sciences faculties in Colombia, a requirement to promote to the sixth year of medical study is to pass an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), which is useful in evaluating communicative abilities of students through interaction with patients. The examination consists of multiple stations with different tasks with the objective which is based on simulation of real clinical encounters between doctors and patients [5].
At the national level, there have been a number of studies on OSCE, one of which was carried out in 2020 by Cardona – Arias et al. The objective of this study was to analyze the perceptions by teachers and students on the OSCE. The study showed favorable perceptions in opportunity, methods, development of knowledge and skill, but unfavorable by students on high levels of anxiety, frustration and fear [6].
However, there is still no updated data on using this OSCE exam to evaluate the academic performance of our students. Through these indicators whether student is suitable to be promoted to the final year of medical study. Furthermore, there is no data on the minimum grade on the evaluation [7].
It is important to assess how the pandemic is causing and will cause on our medical teaching. The data suggests that students have a decrease in empathy and communication with patients, insecurity in decision-making and ignorance of fundamental issues in the area of health.
We consider it very important in evaluation of studies and the use of OSCE to determine weak points in students, especially in communication skills and in medical knowledge. To overcome these weaknesses, it is important to conduct workshops and academic activities that reinforce or mitigate damages caused by virtual teaching to meet the needs of students, finally leading to better performance of students in the last year of undergraduate learning, and as a good starting point as a future healthcare professional.
Provenance and peer review
Not commissioned, internally peer-reviewed.
Ethical approval
It is not necessary.
Sources of funding
None.
Author contribution
All authors equally contributed to the analysis and writing of the manuscript.
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Guarantor
GA Dominguez – Alvarado, Epidemiólogo, Docente, Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, director Grupo de Innovación e Investigacion Quirúrgica (GIIC). Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia. Email: Gdominguez@unab.edu.co.
Declaration of competing interest
None.
References
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- 2.Measures taken on March 19. https://coronaviruscolombia.gov.co/Covid19/acciones-19-marzo.html [Internet]. [cited 2021 Nov 2]. Available from.
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