• Katherine M Naeger, Kaelyn C Cummins, and Prathit A Kulkarni.
• From the Department of Student Affairs, and the Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Section, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
• South. Med. J. 2022 Nov 1; 115 (11): 808812808-812.

ObjectivesThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic required a multifaceted response by healthcare professionals. Medical students played only a limited role in the early response, resulting in feelings of disengagement. The authors developed a discussion-based elective course reviewing the COVID-19 response to address this gap in medical student education.MethodsPreclinical medical students enrolled in this elective participated in weekly virtual interactive seminars led by expert faculty members. Students completed a final survey quantifying their understanding of the overall COVID-19 response, knowledge of its individual facets, and their feelings of personal engagement on a Likert scale from 1 to 5, with 5 representing the most understanding or engagement. The differences in mean scores on "precourse" and "postcourse" surveys were compared.ResultsA total of 65 students enrolled in the elective. Students demonstrated significant improvement in perceived holistic understanding of the response of the medical field to the COVID-19 pandemic (P < 0.001) and in feelings of personal engagement with the pandemic (P < 0.001). In addition, students reported a significantly increased understanding of each facet of the pandemic response covered in the course (8 questions; all P < 0.001).ConclusionsPreclinical medical student participation in a discussion-based seminar course reviewing the COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased feelings of engagement with and understanding of the response of the medical field to the pandemic.

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