Medical Education Adaptations During a Pandemic: Transitioning to Virtual Student Support.

Student pastoral support is crucial throughout medical training and is often conducted via face to face meetings with academic personal tutors or mentors. However, the sudden introduction of social distancing measures designed to stem the spread of the virus resulted in a national switch to online teaching and removed the ability to provide students with support in-person. This rapid and unexpected change of circumstances and loss of structure left many students socially isolated and struggling to cope with massive uncertainty.