Objective: To analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the young MDS members assessing their satisfaction with the MDS virtual educational tools.

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic impacted healthcare training globally. Young healthcare professionals were highly affected. Many were shifted to serve COVID patients with interruption of their speciality training. The International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS) offers a variety of online educational resources freely available for members. Younger members represent about one third of the entire MDS community. The Young Members Group (YMG) is a special interest group focusing on expanding the network of young members, supporting training and educational activities.

Method: A web-based survey was conducted between mid-June and October 2020. Email invitations were sent to all MDS young members. The online survey was created by the MDS- YMG Steering Committee and its senior chair. It consisted of 23 questions, contained multiple-choice questions and one open question for suggestions and comments. It was divided into three sections: demographic data, impact on educational activities and satisfaction with the MDS e-learning tools.

Results: 375 completed the survey from 3802 invited members. Higher responses (30% and 10%) were from US and Brazil respectively. Clinicians represented more than 60%, with 45% were involved in managing COVD-19 patients. 66% showed lack of clear protocol to manage movement disorders during the pandemic. 80% reported a moderate to severe impact of the pandemic on the exposure to patients with movement disorders. Phone calls were the mostly used communication tool in 82%. Difficulties in reaching patients reported by more than 74%. Educational activities were largely affected in 78.2%, with complete interruption for more than 4 weeks among half of the participants. Virtual teaching sessions were attended by 69%. The MDS educational materials were used by 66% of the members and considered helpful by about 90%. The used of MDS educational materials were considered moderately to extremely important.

Conclusion: COVID-19 outbreak impacted the training and educational activities of healthcare professionals interested in movement disorders globally. MDS educational resources were extremely relevant for the young MDS community during the pandemic. There is a need to reinforce their advertisement and implementation.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-online-mds-educational-resources-helped-young-neurologists-maintain-their-training-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/