Challenges and possibilities for board exams in the Covid-19 era: experience from the Fellowship Committee of European Board of Nuclear Medicine

Excerpt

The Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, starting at the end of 2019, has been far more than a healthcare crisis due its effect on the economy, education and social life. It has globally affected health care services, medical education and research activities including the field of nuclear medicine (NM). The particular impact of pandemic in NM departments has been recently documented by several international surveys [1‐5] reporting an overall decline in diagnostic and therapeutic activities. These studies reported a reduction in the number of NM procedures performed resulting in disruption of usual education activities. The decreasing number of teaching staff, internal or external rotations of physicians, the reduction of exchange programmes and the adaptation of scientific meetings from face-to-face formats to on-line virtual platforms have negatively affected NM training in many institutions, particularly in the training of young residents. Social distancing also has had a negative influence on clinical daily reporting sessions, multidisciplinary tumour boards and interactive lectures that are vital for academic training. On the other hand, this pandemic environment highlighted the importance of digital technology and communication to create new solutions for education and training. Most of the academic institutions and professional organisations developed supplemental materials for education based on e-learning platforms, online programs, continuing medical education sessions or webinars. Also, many international organisations such as European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM), Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI), British Institute of Radiology (BIR) or International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) quickly implemented different solutions for providing easy access to virtual training tools [6, 7]. …