IMPACT ON CLINICAL EXPERIENCES
For preclinical medical students interested in neurosurgery, COVID-19 policies have restricted opportunities to interact with the department in an effort to seek out potential mentors and to explore neurosurgical interests in the operating room, clinic, and the research space. However, neuroanatomy learning modules, which traditionally have been offered virtually at our institution, remain relatively unaffected.
The clerkship year is crucial for accruing clinical experience and testing interests in various clinical subspecialties.2,3 Students in their clinical year have had surgery, neurology, and other clerkships either short-ended or postponed indefinitely, limiting vital clinical experience. Replacement with virtual clinical electives understandably cannot fully help students acquire surgical skills or neurosurgery-specific clinical skills.
In light of these new policies, there have been discussions towards changing clerkship grading. In particular, the National Board of Medical Examiners shelf exams, which make up a large component of overall clerkship grades, will now be administered remotely on an honor system. With potential limitations on accountability during this process, there is uncertainty surrounding the validity of exam scores and, consequently, clerkship grades. Some institutions have also begun implementing a pass/fail grading system for these shelf exams.