Introduction:

COVID-19, a new acute infectious disease caused by SARS-Cov-2, discovered in China in December 2019, is currently characterized by the WHO as a pandemic. The social distancing measures implemented around the world have had a major impact on various sectors, in particular, education. The changes that have occurred in Brazil in the context of higher education courses have had a significant effect on the clinical clerkship activities conducted by medical students.

Objective:

The study sought to identify the main changes caused in clinical clerkships and the view of those clerkship students in light of such changes.

Method:

A questionnaire was devised on Google Forms about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clerkship activities. The research sample consisted of clerkship students from public and private universities in Fortaleza. The collected data were stored in Excel spreadsheets and then analyzed using the SPSS software. The chi-square test and the linear association test were used to assess the association between the nominal and ordinal categorical variables. In some comparisons Cramer’s V was also calculated. The level of significance for all tests was considered based on p <0.05.

Result:

The sample consisted of 303 students, of whom 195 (64.4%) did not stop their clerkship activities and 108 (35.6%) did stop such activities. The students reported reasons to justify their decision to interrupt or continue the activities, and the majority responded that they had been encouraged by their teachers to choose one of those two options. Of those who did not continue with the clerkship, 71.3% said they felt the interruption had been detrimental to them. Furthermore, a series of correlations were observed by comparing the responses of students divided by semesters or by types of institution (public or private).

Conclusion:

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on clerkship activities. There is, therefore, a clear need to study strategies that minimize the damage caused by this global crisis on clerkship students.

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