COVID-19 impact and virtual medical education

The Corona-Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic has had a tremendous effect on medical education. It is also challenging the medical educationists’ ability to adapt to this whole unique situation. Considering the hospital-based education, clinical mentors, and students in all health professions are potential carriers. However, the current crisis is revitalizing the necessity for online learning opportunities and virtual education. Most medical schools are following reacting to lockdown with a shift to live online or video-based learning. Maintaining standard in medical education, keeping the clinical learning on stream, and minimizing the assessment disruption are unprecedented challenges under pandemic conditions. Adaptation to this new situation is necessary to prepare future clinicians for practice. This commentary discusses how this pandemic may affect medical education. In this commentary, the author highlights the importance of virtual education and the potential implications of integrating virtual simulation technologies into medical education for the future of clinical competency learning and assessment.