Novel Coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged from Wuhan, China before rapidly spreading globally, affecting millions of people worldwide. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) characterized the infection caused by SARS-CοV-2 as a pandemic. 1 This health crisis has posed an unprecedented challenge for medical education. As social distancing measures were universally implemented to curtail virus transmission, medical training during these times was inevitably disrupted, especially in clinical settings. The clinical exposure of medical students was hindered, and clinical attachments were abandoned in many medical schools around the globe. 2-5

Transition to a new era In general terms, Greece was mildly affected by the virus, but the Hellenic National Healthcare System (NHS) confronted a significant shortage in personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical staff. As a result, Hellenic medical institutions were forced to cancel in-person classes and clinical medical education, according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Education. 6 Medical educators at our institution immediately consolidated distance learning environments by converting in a few weeks the majority of face-to-face theoretical sessions to online sessions. As also happened in other countries, written exams have been converted into orals, which have been administered via web platforms. 7, 8 Although current evolving webbased ventures can host and possibly substitute the majority of didactic lectures, results were mixed; not all educators and students had previous experiences on remote learning platforms, thus they could not always adapt successfully to the new circumstances. Technical issues, such as poor internet connection, lack of appropriate equipment, and complicated e-learning environments, but also lack of motivation and learners’ boredom to participate in long, consecutive webinars were barriers to online learning. Apart from this, students’ clinical exposure remains an indispensable part of their training, and online learning seems insufficient to compensate for, or simulate, clinical exposure. 9