Impact of COVID-19 on Medical Students' Learning Behaviours, Clinical Training, Performance as Future Medical Professionals, and Perceived Stress: A Cross-Sectional Web Survey.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the implementation of online education worldwide but the impact on medical student learning in the Caribbean is unclear.

Aim: The study aims to assess the impact of COVID-19 on medical students' learning behaviours, clinical training, perception of performance as future medical professionals, and perceived stress.

Methods: A cross-sectional web survey on selected variables, utilising purposive sampling amongst all year four and year five undergraduate medical students in the University of the West Indies in Trinidad was conducted. Quantitative data was examined using χ2, Median (IQR) and qualitative information from open-ended questions was integrated with the presentation of the results.

Results: A total of 145 medical students responded of which 114 (78.6%, p<0.01) indicated that online learning strategies had brought a change in their learning behaviours and 136 (93.8%, p<0.01) respondents indicated that COVID-19 had affected the quality of their training, in most cases negatively. In the perception of future career performance, 90 (62.1%, p<0.01) respondents indicated that they felt a lack of preparation for working as a physician at the end of their training. It was found that 137 (94.5 %, p<0.01) fell into the moderate to high stress category.

Conclusions: COVID-19 had a significant impact on learning behaviours, clinical training and perception of performance in future career. Moderate to high levels of stress were observed among these students. These findings underscore the need for medical schools to adopt hybrid models that balance online education with practical clinical exposure to mitigate learning and psychological challenges experienced during the pandemic.