ArticleBMC research notes2021
The COVID-19 pandemic: doom to international medical electives? Results from two German elective databases.
Article in BMC research notes, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of virtual elective programmes for medical students.The clinical teacher · 2025Pooled it
- Estimating COFuture healthcare journal · 2025Article
- Contextual validation of HEMLEM tool used for measuring clinical micro-learning environments.PloS one · 2025Article
- Long-term trends in international medical electives fees: a database mining study.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- The impact of COVID-19 on medical students.GMS journal for medical education · 2024Review
- Benefits and Drawbacks of International Medical Elective Databases in Abroad Elective Research: A Narrative Review.Advances in medical education and practice · 2024Review
- Clinical electives in China: trends, experiences, barriers.Globalization and health · 2022Review
- International medical electives during and after the COVID-19 pandemic - current state and future scenarios: a narrative review.Globalization and health · 2022Review
- Medical students from German-speaking countries on abroad electives in Africa: destinations, motivations, trends and ethical dilemmas.Human resources for health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveInternational medical electives are an essential part of medical education and popular among medical students. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, many students had assistantship placements postponed and electives cancelled. Educational institutions switched face-to-face campus-based teaching to virtual platforms. Although it is conceivable that international medical electives were particularly affected by this development, numerical data on this phenomenon is yet scarce. To investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the clinical elective behavior of German-speaking medical students, we systematically analyzed two large German online databases (Famulatur-Ranking and PJ-Ranking) cataloging medical elective experience testimonies.
resultsThe COVID-19 pandemic substantially reduced the number of German medical students undertaking abroad medical electives. Between 2018 and 2020, a total of 10,976 reports were uploaded to both databases. We observed a notable decline in abroad elective reports in 2020. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, almost 5% of reports uploaded to "PJ-ranking" covered an international medical elective. This number dropped to 1.68% in 2020. Analyzing "Famulaturranking", we observed a comparable phenomenon. While 4.74% of reports in 2019 covered an international elective, the number dropped to 2.02% in 2020. The long-term consequences of this phenomenon will be subject to future research.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.