Medical training expert explains how the Covid pandemic has affected the training of doctors

The medical director for a business that trains doctors has spoken of how the Covid pandemic has affected the training of junior doctors.

Mahibur Rahman from Emedica says that the lockdown has had a massive effect on the training of medical staff.

“Weekly teaching was cancelled in many parts of the UK in the first lockdown,” he said. “It was then moved to remote teaching sessions when they restarted.

“During the first lockdown, Emedica recognised the importance of doctors continuing professional development during the pandemic and launched a regular free teaching webinar open to doctors in GP training anywhere in the UK – Lockdown Learning.

“This was attended by an average of 600+ doctors each session from all over the UK and some from overseas. We have continued running a monthly free teaching webinar ever since.”

Mahibur notes that doctors have responded well to the training, not just for their career but for their focus and dealing with their stress levels.

“Doctors have commented that as well as finding the content helpful,” he said. “They have felt supported and found it helpful to connect with other doctors who are also struggling with some of the stress and challenges during the pandemic.

“Recruitment to speciality training changed with some specialities cancelling all interviews and using assessments to rank candidates instead. This was due to lack of availability of senior doctors to take part in interviews and assessments and also to minimise travel during the pandemic.”

Mahibur said: “Some specialities adapted interviews to do them remotely, while others used to have assessments using simulated patients (role players) – many of these were cancelled. Some specialities may continue to use some of the adapted processes going forwards to reduce carbon footprint, travel time and disruption.

“Many doctors have found learning remotely a great experience – some have missed the face-to-face interactions and contact but value the time and cost saved travelling and the flexibility to attend from home or from the workplace.”