Although many of us will reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic as disruptive to our way of life, COVID-19 has radically transformed the process of medical education and has served as a catalyst for incorporation of new technologies, remote learning platforms, and novel methods of instruction. These changes have placed faculty development at the forefront of the medical education response to COVID-19. Faculty developers provided continual and responsible support during this “emergency online education pivot” as institutions minimized the catastrophic spread of disease and by changing the traditional medical education approach. Faculty developers, as experts in online learning pedagogy, educational technology tools, and online student services, designed, produced, and delivered training quickly and effectively to meet the immediate needs of faculty and to save institutions.

How do I know my teaching is good? As an educator, do you grapple with this question like I do? Following a recent hands-on musculoskeletal point of care ultrasound (POCUS) session I taught to internal medicine residents, a handful of learners approached me to bestow praise. “That was awesome!” I basked in the glow of their comments but found myself reflecting afterward. Was the session (and more specifically my teaching in the session) effective? Did the residents’ abilities to perform a bedside POCUS exam actually improve? Will they retain the new knowledge? Did the teaching affect their practice patterns? Or was the session simply 2 hours away from clinical responsibilities? I knew I needed to learn how to study my own teaching.

This joint narrative reflection weaves through the experiences of three female physicians, practicing internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic. It uses the metaphor of the ubiquitous masks we now all wear to explore the boundaries between caregivers and patients and the unanticipated “unmasking” that has taken place across technological platforms, in hallways and patient spaces. The focus is on the commonality of experience of clinical caregivers in these extraordinary times, despite the diversity of social and cultural settings. Most importantly we describe what has been uncovered and what other health care providers might take away from this once-in-a-life-time experience.

The Harvard Macy Institute Podcast aims to connect our Harvard Macy Institute community and to develop our interest in health professions education topics and literature. Our podcast is hosted by our Program for Educators in the Health Professions course faculty Victoria Brazil, and will feature interviews with health professions education authors and their research papers.

Podcast #10 features health professions educational leaders Sarah Teele and Traci Wolbrink, discussing their recent article Online education in a hurry: Delivering pediatric graduate medical education during COVID-19.         

Health Professions Education thought leaders consider reflective practice to be an essential characteristic for professional competence. However, the start of spring semester does not usually elicit reflection about “How am I going to teach next fall?” However, these are unique times and instead of a normal evolution of our curricula, teaching, and assessment strategies, we may find ourselves returning to old strategies or perhaps on new trajectories. Chances are Fall of 2021 will not look like Fall of 2020 or 2019. What are good questions to ask as you reflect on fall of 2020 and begin to plan for fall of 2021? That question was posed to the team of faculty developers from the MedEdPearls team who developed the following list of ideas for health professions educators to consider.