Reflective monitoring as an iterative process in clinical teaching: lessons from online undergraduate psychiatry teaching during COVID-19

Purpose During the COVID-19 outbreak, clinical schools across the UK were forced to switch their learning from face-to-face to online platforms. This paper aims to describe the experiences of psychiatry teachers and medical students at Cambridge University of the online psychiatry case-based tutorials during the COVID-19 outbreak and the lessons learned from this implementation. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted qualitative focus groups with students followed by in-depth individual interviews with students and teachers. Findings In a data-led systematic text condensation analysis, this study found seven themes: the COVID-19 context, the structure of the course, teachers’ educational ethos, beyond the (teaching) script, possibilities for learning or teaching reflective practice, attitudes to online learning and suggestions for future development. The authors then applied the normalisation process theory (NPT) as the theoretical frame of reference. This model has previously been applied to the implementation of telemedicine in psychiatry, to understand how new technology can become embedded in clinical care. Originality/value This study’s results show how the NPT model can be modified to support the delivery of medical education online, including reflective learning and practice as an iterative process at every stage of the implementation and delivery of the teaching.