Changes in medical student attendance and its impact on student educational outcomes: a systematic review protocol

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on medical education, with many institutions shifting to online learning to ensure the safety of students and staff. However, there has been a decline in in-person attendance at medical schools across the UK and worldwide following the...

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Main Authors: Isla Kuhn, Samuel Brown, Palaniappan Ganesh Nagappan, Alex McManus, Sarah Sayers, Shazia Absar, Sapphire Rou Xi Tan, Edward Lau, Charlotte Tulinius
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2024-03-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/3/e078252.full
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author Isla Kuhn
Samuel Brown
Palaniappan Ganesh Nagappan
Alex McManus
Sarah Sayers
Shazia Absar
Sapphire Rou Xi Tan
Edward Lau
Charlotte Tulinius
author_facet Isla Kuhn
Samuel Brown
Palaniappan Ganesh Nagappan
Alex McManus
Sarah Sayers
Shazia Absar
Sapphire Rou Xi Tan
Edward Lau
Charlotte Tulinius
author_sort Isla Kuhn
collection DOAJ
description Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on medical education, with many institutions shifting to online learning to ensure the safety of students and staff. However, there has been a decline in in-person attendance at medical schools across the UK and worldwide following the relaxation of social distancing rules and the reinstation of in-person teaching. Importantly, this trend has been observed prior to the pandemic. While reflected within the literature, there is currently no systematic review describing these changes. We aim to find out how medical students’ attendance is changing as documented within the literature and its impact on their educational outcomes.Methods and analysis This systematic review will follow the guidelines of the Centre of Research and Dissemination, Meta-analyses of Observational Studies in Epidemiology and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. We will search the major databases of Medline via Ovid, Embase via Ovid, Scopus, Web of Science, British Education Index via EBSCOhost and ERIC via EBSCOhost.Two reviewers will independently screen each paper and extract data, with a third reviewer for dispute resolution. All studies reporting on medical students from various universities, both graduate and undergraduate and describing changes in attendance and/or students‘ educational outcomes will be included. Risk of bias in individual studies will be assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and confidence in cumulative evidence will be evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation-Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative Research approach. A narrative synthesis of the findings from all included studies will be reported.Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is not required for this systematic review of existing publicly available literature. We will subsequently aim to publish the results of this systematic review in a peer-reviewed journal.
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spelling doaj-art-e613b9bd2ccf480794975dc73914fcce2025-08-20T02:13:52ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552024-03-0114310.1136/bmjopen-2023-078252Changes in medical student attendance and its impact on student educational outcomes: a systematic review protocolIsla Kuhn0Samuel Brown1Palaniappan Ganesh Nagappan2Alex McManus3Sarah Sayers4Shazia Absar5Sapphire Rou Xi Tan6Edward Lau7Charlotte Tulinius8THIS Institue, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKSchool of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKSchool of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKSchool of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKSchool of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKSchool of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKSchool of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKIntroduction The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on medical education, with many institutions shifting to online learning to ensure the safety of students and staff. However, there has been a decline in in-person attendance at medical schools across the UK and worldwide following the relaxation of social distancing rules and the reinstation of in-person teaching. Importantly, this trend has been observed prior to the pandemic. While reflected within the literature, there is currently no systematic review describing these changes. We aim to find out how medical students’ attendance is changing as documented within the literature and its impact on their educational outcomes.Methods and analysis This systematic review will follow the guidelines of the Centre of Research and Dissemination, Meta-analyses of Observational Studies in Epidemiology and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. We will search the major databases of Medline via Ovid, Embase via Ovid, Scopus, Web of Science, British Education Index via EBSCOhost and ERIC via EBSCOhost.Two reviewers will independently screen each paper and extract data, with a third reviewer for dispute resolution. All studies reporting on medical students from various universities, both graduate and undergraduate and describing changes in attendance and/or students‘ educational outcomes will be included. Risk of bias in individual studies will be assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and confidence in cumulative evidence will be evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation-Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative Research approach. A narrative synthesis of the findings from all included studies will be reported.Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is not required for this systematic review of existing publicly available literature. We will subsequently aim to publish the results of this systematic review in a peer-reviewed journal.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/3/e078252.full
spellingShingle Isla Kuhn
Samuel Brown
Palaniappan Ganesh Nagappan
Alex McManus
Sarah Sayers
Shazia Absar
Sapphire Rou Xi Tan
Edward Lau
Charlotte Tulinius
Changes in medical student attendance and its impact on student educational outcomes: a systematic review protocol
BMJ Open
title Changes in medical student attendance and its impact on student educational outcomes: a systematic review protocol
title_full Changes in medical student attendance and its impact on student educational outcomes: a systematic review protocol
title_fullStr Changes in medical student attendance and its impact on student educational outcomes: a systematic review protocol
title_full_unstemmed Changes in medical student attendance and its impact on student educational outcomes: a systematic review protocol
title_short Changes in medical student attendance and its impact on student educational outcomes: a systematic review protocol
title_sort changes in medical student attendance and its impact on student educational outcomes a systematic review protocol
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/3/e078252.full
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