The experience and impact of COVID-19 on a newly formed university medical office: A comparative survey

Background: COVID-19 had monumental effects on society and in particular medicine and medical education systems. Medical systems in the United States operate in multiple contexts with interrelated goals, and the context of work strongly influenced how organizations were able to respond to COVID-19 restrictions. This research examines the experience and impact of COVID-19 on the implementation of a Health Resources and Services Administration grant (HRSA) in a newly formed university medical office with the interrelated goals of health policy, health outreach, and health education. Methods: We administered a survey about COVID-19 opportunities and challenges to work unit leaders and their key HRSA project collaborators, comparing responses from direct educational and non-direct educational work units. Findings: While all units within the office were influenced by COVID-19 restrictions, medical education units had more experiences and challenges with statistical significance. In particular, while classroom-based learning is amenable to remoteness experiential learning may not be. COVID-19 restrictions increased the complexity of project work and presented challenges especially in terms of coordinating responses and access to locations. Conclusions: : While remoteness is appropriate for some medical education tasks it is less appropriate for others. Program administrators will have to integrate remoteness’ benefits and drawbacks into their organizing for the foreseeable future.