Impact of a Pandemic and Remote Learning on Team Development and Elements of Compassion in Prospective Medical Students Taking a Medical Humanities Course

Introduction: We reported previously that when teams of students reflect on readings about communication, unconscious bias, and service-learning, their critical reflection, implicit bias mitigation, empathy, and compassionate behavior all increase. However, would these gains occur when intimate classroom settings, in-person team meetings, and direct interactions with people served were lost owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and remote learning? Methods: Before an online Medical Humanities course began in August 2020 and following the course in December 2020, 61 prospective medical students (54.1% female) completed reliable surveys of their reflective capacity (RC) and cognitive empathy (compassion). Students also completed surveys about their implicit biases and team community service in December 2020. Results: Both RC and empathy scores increased in students after they reflected on difficulties in communication, unconscious biases, and team service-learning experiences in the course. In written reflections, they reported how their compassionate behavior also grew owing to bias mitigation. Most students concurred that “unconscious bias might affect some of (their) clinical decisions or behaviors as a healthcare professional” and vowed to remain aware of these biases in clinical settings. Conclusions: Compared to previous years, the pandemic and remote learning had minimal effects on the benefits of our Medical Humanities course.