An investigation of the long term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education and clinical development of Podiatry students in Northern Ireland

Introduction The disruptive effects of the COVID-19 have impacted on almost all sectors of our society. Higher education is no exception, COVID-19 has had significant impact on the education and clinical placement of students since March 2020. The pandemic resulted in universities having to adapt to online/remote delivery of lectures whilst continuing to facilitate clinic placements. This study explored the impact of COVID-19 on podiatry education. Methods A Qualtrics® survey was distributed to all students in the School of Health Sciences at Ulster University, Newtownabbey. The survey was distributed at three timepoints (TP) to see how perceptions changed. TP 1- October 2020, TP 2- December 2020, TP 3- April 2021. Information was gathered on demographics, individual experiences clinically, academically and personally. Analysis was performed using SPSS. Results 24, 17, 15 students respectively from across three years of the programme completed the survey at three different TP’s. By TP3 students had adapted to synchronous and non-synchronous remote learning with 3 students reporting they were happy to continue with online learning and 4 stating they would like a combination of face to face and online teaching. Overall students reported COVID-19 had a negative impact on teaching and learning after completion of one academic year. For those who completed clinical placements, students reported positive if somewhat limited experiences with 2 students reporting their confidence had increased as they had seen some difficult and challenging cases, enabling them to cope in difficult circumstances The pandemic also impacted upon their personal health and wellbeing although no student reported having had Covid - 19 and 3 students now viewed their choice of career as a health care professional negatively. Conclusion The majority of students are keen to get back into university for teaching delivery but would like blended learning with some synchronous online delivery maintained in the post COVID-19 world