SynthesisThe clinical teacher2025
A systematic review of virtual elective programmes for medical students.
Synthesis in The clinical teacher, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of virtual elective programmes for medical students.The clinical teacher · 2025Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundClinical electives are a compulsory part of many medical courses, enabling students to gain exposure to foreign health systems. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge in the development in virtual elective programmes, for which there had been a sparse evidence base. This is the first systematic review assessing the implementation, advantages and disadvantages of virtual elective programmes for medical students.
methodsThe systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Databases were searched, capturing results from the past 10 years for original evaluations of electives where medical students engaged in a fully virtual programme with another institution, with no restrictions on location. Descriptive, quantitative and qualitative data were extracted by two independent reviewers.
resultsFourteen articles were included for review. All the articles were published between 2020 and 2023. All studies were conducted in the United States of America. The average length of the virtual electives in the studies was 3 weeks, and a variety of teaching formats including virtual clinics, seminars and one-on-one meetings were implemented. Logistical considerations and challenges in delivering virtual electives included the variability in students' learning styles, reduction in patient interactions and technological challenges. DISCUSSION: Most included studies derived that these virtual electives would play a role in the future, possibly replacing in-person electives. Positive attributes of virtual electives included increasing diversity of social backgrounds, high student satisfaction and interest and reducing harms to the environment. However, further research is required to thoroughly evaluate the efficacy of virtual electives in medical education.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.