Allowing the best of each person to emerge: A reflection on student-academic partnership in developing two multimedia tools for peer-assisted learning in medical education

Abstract

Medical students have undoubtedly experienced their fair share of challenges in continuing their studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Opportunities to undertake a leadership role in creating multimedia tools, which form the basis of blended learning in today's universities, are key to maintain and support students in navigating their medical degree. Such opportunities have become scarcely available over the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important for medical students to take on such leadership roles as hospitals are incredibly team-focussed and require team leaders with vision, discipline, knowledge, and empathy. At the core of the partnership work discussed in this essay is the question of how medical students can better find a balance to learn the empathy needed to talk with patients while also being able to highlight key medical knowledge during a consultation. The process of reflection outlined below showed the difficulties in capturing that balance. The exploration of this difficulty is the contribution of this work to the literature. From the medical students' perspective in this project, when there was a focus on conveying empathy to the patient, there were instances where subpar medical advice was provided. Conversely, when the focus was placed on conveying quality medical information to the patient, the manner of speaking often lacked empathy and warmth. In the unprecedented summer of 2020 for students and academic staff alike, a partnership was formed between a group of nine medical students and one professor of obstetrics and gynaecology. The group worked collaboratively online over a concentrated 3-week period on a medical education project. This student-generated project was entirely virtual due to COVID-19 restrictions in Ireland. Of the nine students, eight attended University College Dublin (UCD) and one attended The Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) in Ireland. The eight UCD students had just completed the fourth year of their medical degree, with the sole RCSI student completing their third year. Three of the nine students were studying medicine as their postgraduate degree, with the remainder completing their medical undergraduate degree. The professor had many years of teaching experience in obstetrics and gynecology and was affiliated with UCD and the National Maternity Hospital in Ireland.