Reflection of changes in medical education during the pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the landscape and our experience of being
a doctor in the UK. We face and unprecedent amount of fatigue, burnout during our work, and
feeling frustrated to deal with the failing healthcare system in our countr y (Teo, 2018).
Across all specialties, there are shortage of trainees, training posts and medical educators to
provide a constant influx of flesh blood into our healthcare system (Dyrbye, 2018). To make
the matter worse, many of us are thinking to leave the NHS or taking a break in our career
(GMC, 2018). As a doctor and a medical educator, I organise junior doctors’ learning and
combating the pandemic myself. Seeing so many junior doctors were not able to cope with
these challenges and fulfil their training requirement during the pandemic was certainly a
demoralising experience which I have never seen before in my career.
The important question is what we can do to improve the current circumstances and to
prevent similar situation from happening in the future. I am always proud that our hospital
provides us with great restrooms where we can truly relax, having a break and m ingle with our
equally tired colleagues. We have even introduced day off on birthdays as a tiny step in
making doctors feeling valued. More importantly, it is essential that we as healthcare
professional to learn to listen, understand and improve as a whole (Edwards et al., 2013). For
instance, virtual teaching in the hospital, active daily phone calls to our junior doctors and
distant group reflective sessions are all great ways for us to cope with the changes caused by
the pandemic (Wilcha, 2020). Digital health education does not only reduce unnecessary
travel times in our already busy schedules, it actually helps us to better utilise current
technologies on enhancing our learning experience, such as instant access to medical data or
research (He et al., 2020).
Another problem faced by the pandemic is the lock down which created major disturbance to
the learning experience of our medical students as well (Burgess and Sievertsen, 2020). The
university I work with were able to adapt the situation promptly by using online classes and
assessment just like what we do to our junior doctors in our hospital. However, medical
students are confused about their future prospect and feeling uncertain on how long this new
intervention will last for. As it is crucial to note that although e -learning is not a new concept
in education of other fields, it is a fairly recent in medical education (Abha, 2021). One of the
key challenges as a medical educator was to provide remote teaching on subjects that are
difficult to be delivered online, such as anatomy, clinical surgery ( Moszkowicz et al., 2020).
However, some literature did suggest that using simulation online help promote anatomy and
surgical teaching and improve cost-effectiveness (Clifton et al., 2019). Regardless, the medical
educational crisis created by the pandemic is likely going to affect the way of medical education and
its strategic planning in the future. However, without a carefully planned medical education
strategy, there will be no more tomorrow doctors.
Reference
Abha, J., J. (2021). “Reflection on the effect of COVID-19 on medical education as we hit a
second wave.” MedEdPublish;121(1):447-450.
Burgess, S. and Sievertsen, H. H. (2020). “The impact of COVID-19 on education | VOX”. CEPR
Policy Portal. Availabe from: https://voxeu.org/article/impact-covid-19-education (Electronic
Accessed: 8 Aug 2021).
Clifton, W., Aaron, D., Nottmeier, E., Pichelmann, M. (2019). “The importance of teaching
clinical anatomy in surgical skills education: Spare the patient, use a sim!” Clinical anatomy;
32:124–127.
Council GM (2018). “The state of medical education and practice in the UK.”
Dyrbye L. (2018). “Association of clinical specialty with symptoms of burnout and career
choice regret among US resident physicians.” JAMA;320(11):1114-30.
Edwards, M., Kelly, T., Gainsborough, N., & Halligan, A. (2013). “Evolving doctors from medical
students.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 106(9), 347–350.
He, X., Shelden, D., Kraftson, A. et al. (2020). “A virtual teaching clinic for virtual care during
the COVID-19 pandemic.” Clin Diabetes Endocrinol 6, 25.
Moszkowicz, D., Duboc, H., Dubertret, C., Roux, D., et al. (2020) “Daily medical education for
confined students during COVID‐19 pandemic: A simple videoconference solution”. Clinical
Anatomy. John Wiley and Sons Inc., 1(2), p. ca.23601.
Teo WZW (2018). “A Closer Look at the Junior Doctor Crisis in the United Kingdom’s National
Health Services: Is Emigration Justifiable?” Camb Q Healthc Ethics;27(3):474-86.
Wilcha, R. (2020). “Effectiveness of Virtual Medical Teaching During the COVID -19 Crisis:
Systematic Review.” JMIR Med Educ;6(2):e20963
TIK FUNG DAVE LIU
DOB: 5th December 1987 ~ daveliuhk@gmail.com
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Doctor and medical educator 2021 - Present
James Paget University hospital
Provide teaching to junior doctors and medical students
OSCE Tutor 2019 - 2021
St. George’s University of London
Provide OSCE teaching to first and second year medical students
Medical tutor 2020 - 2021
St. George’s University of London, University of Nicosia Medical School
Collaborate with different physicians from multiple specialties to design and organise a series of
lectures for first year to final year medical students across whole year. Topic included:
• Acute Coronary Syndrome
• ECG interpretation
• Autonomic Nervous System physiology
• Chest X-Ray interpretation
• Difference between Asthma and COPD
• Fluid management to sick patients
• Airway and breathing management in acute scenario
• ABG interpretation and pathologies
EDUCATION EXPERIENCE
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery 2015-2019
St. George’s University of London
Master in Art – Education with Leadership 2020-present
Wrexham Glyndwr University, Wales
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Mystery unsolved: a decade of research on the association between stressful life events,
psychological stress and depression and the development of breast cancer – a scoping
review (2021)
Lead author, submitted and awaiting result
A scoping review: the relationship between Chemotherapy and gut microbiota (2021)
Co- author, in progress
A systematic review: does microbiota play a role in COVID-19 infection? (2021)
Lead author, in progress
VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
Clinical support worker 2017-2020
Doctors of the World, London, UK
Provide clinical and administrative support to vulnerable patients, particularly migrants without
documentation
Volunteer 2017 - 2019
St. Christorpher hospice, London, UK
Participated in a project for providing support to young adults patients
Professional development timeline
2019 Graduation from medical school
2019 Started as clinical skill tutor
2020 Clinical science tutor
2021 Started as doctor and providing medical education
2022 Finish Master in Education
2024 Finish medical specialty training
2025 Specialise in medical education
Action plan
1. Finish the Master in Education
2. Involve in research of medical education
3. Liaise with University of East Anglia medical school to provide extra sessions for medical
students
4. Contact my trust’s medical education department to allow more medical students or junior
doctors to shadow
5. Liaise with my colleagues to organize large teaching session in the near future
6. Focus on finishing the specialty in general practice and obtain extra qualification on special
interest in medical education
