Background/Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for medical students and faculty with the abrupt transition to online learning in March 2020. At NYU Long Island School of Medicine (LISOM), a new accelerated 3-year primary care medical school, this transition occurred during the charter class’s five-week Musculoskeletal/Rheumatology/Dermatology (MSK/Rheum/Derm) course. The core components of LISOM’s curriculum, including didactic lectures and longitudinal courses in problem-based learning (PBL), health systems science (HSS), practice of medicine (POM), anatomy/histology/pathology/radiology (M4), and ethics, were rapidly restructured to be delivered either through prerecorded sessions (released in the afternoon on the day prior to the scheduled time) or live classes hosted virtually on WebEx.

Methods: A survey was designed on Qualtrics and distributed to second-year NYU LISOM students. Students could then voluntarily and anonymously opt to participate. All participant information was de-identified. Questions explored the students’ perceived efficacy of various components of the MSK/Rheum/Derm curriculum including prerecorded lectures, Q&A sessions, case-based activities, exam review sessions, and longitudinal courses.

Results: 79% (N=19/24) of students in NYU LISOM’s charter class participated in this survey. 84% of students rated prerecorded lectures as “extremely” or “very” effective and 89% of students felt that they learned as much from prerecorded lectures as in-person lectures. 52% of students began watching prerecorded lectures prior to their scheduled time and another 37% watched them during the scheduled time. Dedicated Q&A sessions addressing each lecture topic were largely underutilized by students, with 84% students attending < 5 sessions. In spite of this, 89% of students agreed that they were able to have all questions arising from lectures answered. Students felt that problem-based learning (PBL) was the most effective longitudinal course during online learning, with 79% of students rating it as ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ effective. Students also felt that MSK/Rheum/Derm lecture material was highly integrated with PBL, M4, and POM. The most difficult subjects to learn virtually were anatomy and histology (M4). Students cited the most effective M4 sessions included prerecorded lectures and the use of 3D modeling. One of the notable challenges of online learning was the development of strong student-faculty relationships with 89% of students indicating that they did not get to know the faculty well. A clear benefit of online learning was the increased flexibility and autonomy to pursue individual study styles with 100% of students agreeing that they had more time for independent study.

Conclusion: To our knowledge, the rapid and successful conversion of the entire MSK/Rheum/Derm curriculum to virtual learning at NYU LISOM during the COVID-19 pandemic was the first of its kind in that it was accomplished within a framework of a unique, compressed 3-year primary care medical school curriculum and is a viable model for remote online rheumatology learning in the setting of a public health emergency.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/efficacy-of-rapid-transition-of-a-musculoskeletal-rheumatology-dermatology-course-to-online-learning-during-covid-19-pandemic/