(P77) Summer Zoom Series: Topics in Medicine

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic and “shelter-in-place” orders reduced medical student opportunities for research, clinical activities and mentorship. We created a Summer Zoom Series of Topics in Medicine to increase engagement of incoming and first year medical students (MS) with the current medical school students and faculty.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in dramatic changes to medical education. In 2020, California ordered a “shelter-in-place” and the AAMC recommended removing MS from clinical duties. Medical education went from in-person to remote.1 Incoming and MS1s found their summer research and travel plans canceled and MS3/4s faced limited clinical rotations.2 MS expressed concerns about decreased opportunities to explore specialties and effects on their future careers.2,3 We designed the “Summer Zoom Series: Topics in Medicine,” a series for all incoming and current UC Irvine MS that featured medical and specialty talks that took place the summer of 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Methods: For the summer of 2020 Summer Zoom Series, a faculty member organized the one-hour Zoom based didactic sessions that occurred from June 2020 to August 2020. Based on student feedback sessions included a variety of speciality specific talkshops called “Why I chose XXX” that focused on why faculty chose their specific specialties, “Story Time” sessions that focused on clinical stories from various specialties and clinical topics sessions such as EKG reading, common labs, ultrasound, COVID-19 updates, intro to radiology, LGBTQ+ care, Anti-Racism, and a few hands on topics such as suturing and intravenous line placement where students picked up materials and then participated in instructional sessions on Zoom. The series was then repeated in the summer of 2021 and again in 2022--each year with increased student involvement in planning and creation. New sessions included student run “So you wanna be a first year” and “So you wanna be a second year” which focused on upperclassmen advice with respect to each year. In 2021 and 2022 there were in-person suturing, IV placement and ultrasound sessions.
Attendance to sessions was tracked, all sessions were recorded and student comments were collected. Recordings were posted to the learning management system and views were recorded.

Results: The summer of 2020, 36 Zoom based sessions occurred with an average of 14.25 students/ session, composed of incoming first year and current MS1-4s. Posted recordings were viewed a total of 245 times by 104 unique viewers with a total of 3244 viewing minutes.
The summer of 2021, 31 total sessions occurred, 27 Zoom and 4 in-person skills sessions, with an average of 9 students/session, composed primarily of incoming and current MS1s. Posted recordings were viewed a total of 407 times by 119 unique viewers with 10592 viewing minutes.
The summer of 2022, there were 57 total sessions, 50 Zoom and 7 in-person skills sessions. Sessions were primarily attended by incoming first year and current MS1s, averaging 7.4 students/session. Posted recordings were viewed 666 times by 138 unique viewers with 18814 viewing minutes.
Overall the 2020 Summer Zoom Series was the most attended--likely due to “shelter-in-place” orders and students having limited opportunities for activities outside of home. As restrictions were lifted we saw a decrease in Zoom session attendance, however an increase in posted recordings views and increased attendance at in-person events. Overall student and faculty satisfaction each year was very high--verbal and written comments were overwhelmingly positive and appreciative.

Conclusions: The Summer Zoom Series provided MS the opportunity for faculty interaction/mentorship during an isolating time. We anticipated decreased attendance in 2021 and 2022 but were pleased with positive feedback and recording viewership. We plan to continue the series with standardized session times to improve attendance and increased in-person events.

References (Optional): 1. Association of American Medical Colleges. Important guidance for medical students on clinical rotations during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, 2020. Available: https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/press-releases/important-guidance-medical-
students-clinical-rotations-during-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak [Accessed 28 Sept
2022].
2. Papapanou M, Routsi E, Tsamakis K, et al. Medical education challenges and innovations during COVID-19 pandemic. Postgraduate Medical Journal 2022;98:321-327.
3. Ferrel M N, Ryan J J (March 31, 2020) The Impact of COVID-19 on Medical Education. Cureus 12(3): e7492. doi:10.7759/cureus.7492

Funding (Optional): No funding.