In Pandemic's 3rd Year, Medical Educators Also Feel Strains

The COVID-19 pandemic, now into its third year, has not spared medical education from its effects. The American Medical Association (AMA) has authored guidance to support medical educators, with input from AMA Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium stakeholders. "The aim is to help understand these challenges and then, ideally, inform the schools — and the leaders at health systems — on how they can create systems that advance the educational mission," said Sanjay V. Desai, MD, the AMA's chief academic officer and group vice president of medical education. The resource lists seven key recommendations for institutions to support educators as they work to rebound from the pandemic. They include monitoring and supporting educators and learners' well-being; honing workflows to support educational engagement; safeguarding time for educational activities; delivering ongoing training, including technical, human and online resources; fostering educator career advancement; allocating educational surge capacity; and advocating for local and national system changes. "We feel that providing a formal document allows our educators — who are under these strains — to have something that they can refer to that has the validation of the AMA, that they can take to the leadership at their various institutions and advocate for support," said Kimberly Lomis, MD, the AMA's vice president of undergraduate medical education innovations.

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