Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clinical performance of medical students: a retrospective study in Korea.

Purpose: The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic led to significant changes in clinical clerkships, including reduced ward rounds. We aimed to determine how the pandemic-induced changes in the clinical practice environment affect the clinical performance of medical students.

Methods: We analyzed objective structured clinical examination scores of third- and fourth-year medical students from 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 across six stations by the Seoul-Gyeonggi Consortium. Clinical, communication, and ability scores were measured and analyzed using repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance.

Results: The interaction between clinical practice progress and pandemic-induced changes significantly affected physical examination and medical history scores, though the differences were not substantial. Patient-physician interaction significance varied by measurement period. Clinical communication ability also showed significant differences based on the measurement period and practical experience.

Conclusion: During the pandemic, alternative learning methods, including self-learning, simulation/practice, and peer role-play, helped improve medical competency in areas such as history-taking and physical examination. However, these were less effective in improving patient-physician interactions or clinical communication efficacy. Alternative learning methods have limitations, and they cannot replace direct patient encounters in clinical practice.