Background and aim of the work: Since December 2019, the world has been facing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic crisis. The rapid and effortless spread of the virus has led the World Health Organization to adopt unprecedented large-scale preventive measures. Our aim is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of medical students, and to evaluate their awareness and aptitude for contributing to the fight against COVID-19 contagion.
Methods: PubMed electronic database was employed for the research using the following terms: "medical students and COVID-19", "mental health of medical students and COVID-19", "knowledge of medical students and COVID-19", "preventive behavior of medical students and COVID-19".
Results: Twenty-one articles were included; ten assess the knowledge of medical students on COVID-19, seven present whether they demonstrate appropriate preventive behavior according to global guidelines, seven examine the impact of the pandemic on their mental health, five examine their role on the side of trained healthcare workers. Some articles combine more than one of the above mentioned domains.
Conclusions: Medical students seem to demonstrate an adequate level of knowledge upon COVID-19 and implement proper strategies to prevent its spread. Further training is essential to improve some aspects in this field. Social media has proven to be the optimal source of information for medical students, which is incompatible with their future careers as doctors. The pandemic had a negative impact on medical students, expressed as fear regarding the virus spread; nevertheless, many have felt the need to assist healthcare systems under appropriate precautions.