The Global Interprofessional Education Conference: GIPEC 2021

under theme “How Education sector responds to VUCA Health System”
Webinar Series and Virtual conference

Covid-19 and health professional education
The unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic has hit countries far and wide. In the early phases of the
outbreak, cases detected seemed severe and even fatal1 especially among vulnerable
populations. Confirmed cases and mortality rates vary between countries depending on their
specific circumstances including healthcare systems capacities, socioeconomic contexts, available
resources, and policy responses. WHO has issued several advices for countries to prevent and
fight against the Covid-19 outbreak in many aspects from policy to individual levels. Surveillance
and detection, treatment, social distancing, quarantine, isolation, containment, proper
handwashing, mask wearing have been among those recommendations. Nearly 80 percent of
global population has come under stay-home orders, lockdowns and quarantines, inflicting
increasingly severe direct and indirect economic impacts. The sudden decline in economic
activities due to the pandemic-induced lockdowns have been affecting different sectors differently.2
Healthcare provision in most countries have been overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients and
challenged by shortage of health workforce, medication, equipment and financial support to fight
against the pandemic.
Similarly, health professional education has been tremendously disrupted by the pandemic, since,
it operates within the healthcare systems, universities, and the broader community.3 Conforming to
their governments’ measures of lockdown, health professional education and training institutes had
to close down leading to students’ limit access to learning facilities and resources. Pre-clinical
training has been converted to various distance-learning approaches through online learning
platforms. Clinical training for students had been suspended at the beginning of the pandemic.4
Students doing their clinical placements and internships are the most interrupted, since, their
learning activities may not be promptly migrated to online platforms.5 It was reported that many
nursing students had their clinical experiences blocked and had limited experiences with the
crisis.6 For medical students in many countries, missing clerkships or having a severely decreased
workload in placements can significantly affect their residency application.7 This may leave
students anxious whether they have been able to acquire appropriate skills.7
Due to the shortage of health workforce amid the battle with Covid-19, countries put measures in
place to ensure that they have as many health professionals as possible to offer services during
the crisis. For example, in the U.S., States have opened up their licensing reciprocity to allow
nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists and other health professionals to offer their services across
state lines.8 Other states are asking recently retired health professionals and students who have
recently graduated but haven’t yet taken their licensing exam, or who are soon-to-be graduating, to
offer their expertise and practice on a temporary basis.8 In Europe, many students were required or
hired to care for patients during the Covid-19 with temporary licenses,9 while some volunteered to
serve in spectrum of care with protections to safeguard themselves from the risk of getting
infected. Regarding their learning, they were worried about meeting quality of education,
completing their courses on time, fulfilling their learning milestones, and being able to register to
practice.

Learning under Covid-19 emergency
It has never been more timely and relevant than ever for countries to adjust to new normal of
health professional education aligning with transformative learning recommended by Lancet
commission (2010) and WHO (2013) reports on ‘Health professionals for a new century:
transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world’ and ‘Transforming
and scaling up health professionals’ education and training’ respectively. Both reports encourage
countries to transform their health professional education to be responsive to the evolving healthcare
needs of their communities in line with the changing environment and technologies.12, 13 The
Covid-19 necessitates the educational and training institutes to transform health professional
education in all aspects. Various teaching-learning approaches have been utilized for students to
learn within emergency circumstances.
Even before the Covid-19 crisis, new learning approaches have been introduced to the health
professional education over last several years as part of transformative learning. The pandemic
accelerates integration of transformative learning approaches via cutting-edge technologies as
face-to-face sessions have been suspended or limited. Key learning approaches including blended
learning, remote learning, flexible learning, interactive learning, synchronous and asynchronous
learning, virtual reality (VR), flipped learning, simulation scenarios, cooperative learning, webinar,
and live-streaming class have been mainstreamed. Modern technologies could enhance learning
of health professional students and improve their achievements14 regardless of their locations
including open learning platforms such as MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) and Moodle, and
paid platforms such as ZOOM meeting, Google Classroom, Google meet, Skype, and Microsoft
teams, and social media networks such as Facebook group, Podcast, Line, WeChat, Youtube,
Twitter, and Instagram. In the context of Covid-19, administration, faculty, and students have to
adjust themselves to this fast pace transformation of health professional learning.
Usually, simulation scenarios and virtual learning have been utilized for clinical learning for many
professions. Virtual clinics and case-based learning have been delivered via videoconferencing for
providing medical students with workplace experience without facing the inherent risks for Covid-
19.15,16 An institute had nursing students participated in simulated nursing video consultations via
operating microphone and camera during the development of the clinical case.17 One institute
converted foundational IPE course curriculum to an online learning environment proving four
discussion boards for students from various professionals to discuss interprofessional education
(IPE) components and created an additional COVID-19 discussion board to allow students to apply
knowledge of their own profession and interprofessional collaborative practice to the current
pandemic situation in an effort to connect what students were learning to an immediately relevant
context.18
Nonetheless, student-patient engagement is still necessary and irreplaceable for students to learn
a multitude of pathologies and varying signs and symptoms from patients19 and teachers. In this
sense, clinical skill training is important for health professional education when interns are allowed
to have close contact with patients and teachers.14 During the start of the pandemic, all the clinical
training for dental courses in most countries have been suspended because most of the dental
hospitals and clinics are closed.14 In many countries, nursing students struggled to complete the
minimum requirement of clinical placement20 that could affect their graduation timeline.
Not only the learning methods have been shifted, but also assessment modalities have to be
redesigned, yet aligning with competency-based education. Some have delayed or expedited
examinations, while some have opted to cancel them entirely and use previous summative and
formative performance to enable award of the medical degree.21 Teachers have conducted remote to take the test online in remote settings. However, many institutes utilized information technology
(IT) to prevent dishonest during the examination.14 Remote live proctors and biometrics-based
proctoring are utilized to ensure exam integrity.25 There are challenges in teaching physical
examination skills online to students. Some schools have tried watching online physical
examination videos in a group with an introduction by the preceptor followed by a critical
discussion.25 To take advantage of the Covid-19 circumstance in clinical training, nursing students
in some countries could opt to do clinical practice to support healthcare systems under appropriate
support and supervision. Students’ time in clinical practice can be used to support achievement of
required practice hours across the remaining period of their studies.26
Challenges
The Covid-19 has set irreversible changes for health professional education. The health
educational and training institutes across the world had to rapidly adapt to the new teaching and
learning methods, modality and process to ensure education continuity. There are various
innovations emerged to educate health professional students. Nevertheless, Faculty members
might have different level of technology proficiency. Some are not familiar with the technology used
to deliver sessions online.25 Students learning under less direct contact and supervision than in the
face-to-face setting may require greater effort to be motivated and stay engaged with the online
classes.27 In some countries, health professional students could not access internet when study
somewhere else outside campus. Regarding assessment, dishonest has become increasingly
sophisticated as digital platforms have provided an array of new technologies for doing so.27
Raising awareness and understanding about academic among students should be considered.
Sustaining good practices beyond Covid-19 emergency
Administration, faculty and students are adapting to the new learning environments under the
pandemic.Health professional education innovations have been developed during Covid-19. Some
innovations have been well accepted and would be integrated and maintained in the existing
curricula, even after the Covid-19 emergency. It is concerned that they would be fade away after
the outbreak is gone.
Various studies about health professional education disruption during Covid-19 pandemic were
conducted to ensure that health professional education could be continued through the pandemic
to prepare new generations of health workforce to better serve society health needs. Studies
relating to outcome of health professional education during Covid-19 pandemic around the globe
should be shared discussed and among administration, educators, students and relevant
stakeholders to reconsider the future of health workforce landscape for an emergency like
epidemic, pandemic, natural disaster and man-made disaster that could be happen at any point of
time. Contents and approaches of preparedness for an emergency have to be integrated into
health professional curricula to equip students with competencies desired. Of course, those
curricula have to be accredited.
The Global Interprofessional Education Conference on “How Education sector responds to
VUCA Health System” is providing platform for administration, faculty and students to share and
discuss their lessons learned and perspectives regarding health professional education during
Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. What have been challenges they encountered and opportunities
they foresee in teaching and learning in the Covid-19 emergency. How should they sustain good
practices of health professional education in the future.

The objectves of the conference were:
1) Provide informaton of the Strategic Plan on the Development of Health Workforce Educaton and
how to translate it into practce
2) Discuss Health Workforce Educaton policies at natonal and internatonal levels;
3) Promote collaboratons and integraton of knowledge and practces among health professionals;
4) Promote innovatons of Health Workforce Educaton for beter health outcomes; and
5) Exchange innovatons of health professional educton and develop research issues to strengthen
body of knowledge in health professional educaton for beter health outcomes.

Conference Approach
1) Natonal/internatonal webinar series was conducted to support health professional educaton
reform in order to move forward natonal policies and strategies. Students and renowned health
professional educaton experts were invited to share their knowledge and experience in health
professional educaton management during Covid-19 pandemic, refecton from students, teachers,
executves, health professional councils and stakeholders. Research, analyses and innovatons in
health professional educaton were also presented.
2) 300-400 partcipants were expected to atend each webinar series. Partcipants included
educatonal insttutons’ executves, teachers, health practtoners, and stakeholders from civil
society, service users, and private sector

The Conduct of webinar series:
1) The frst webinar: Engaged or Lost: Students’ perspectves in online learning on April 19, 2021,from
14.00-15.30 hours.
2) The second webinar: Pain without Gain: Teachers’ perspectves in online learning on April 19, 2021,
from 14.00-15.30 hours.
3) The third webinar: Is blended learning efectve in health professional educaton? on May 17, 2021,
from 14.00-15.30 hours.
4) The fourth webinar: Student Engagement and Progress Monitoring in online Learning on June 16,
2021, from 14.00-15.30 hours.
5) The ffh webinar: Proactve Assessment to Enhance Learning in New normal on July 21, 2021, from
14.00-15.30 hours.