Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2020;75:e2206.

The COVID-19 pandemic: time for medical teachers and students to overcome grief

Patricia Tempski , Arthur H. Danila , Fernanda M. Arantes-Costa , Marina A.M. Siqueira , Matheus B. Torsani , Milton A. Martins

DOI: 10.6061/clinics/2020/e2206

As health professionals and medical educators, we have had a huge challenge in the past few months to adapt our professional lives to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has been the most important and necessary modification of our professional activities in the last few decades (,). Suddenly, much of what we used to do as teachers has had to be interrupted and/or modified, and we have had to exercise flexibility and creativity, adapting medical education to virtual environments. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on medical education, and these times may forever change how future physicians are educated. In Brazil, as in many other countries, first-year medical students have to stay at home and all teaching and learning strategies have had to be changed to distance learning.

In our medical school, faculty and medical students have received the support of the Center for Development of Medical Education, which has helped teachers in adapting their educational programs and student assessments to the new reality of distance learning. In the last few weeks, we have observed faculty and students and their different actions, behaviors, and difficulties during this urgent transition. Although we have all experienced losses of freedom and security concerning our health and the future, we noticed differences in both the time people take to adapt as well as in their responses to the challenge of change in their roles as medical educators during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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