Cardiovascular Education in the Digital Age

Medical education has evolved remarkably during the last decade whereby the conventional large lecture halls, long didactic presentations, and textbooks have been replaced by smaller groups with a mentor–mentee pairing coupled with technological advances that permit a more intimate and yet comprehensive learning experience. The purpose of this review is to summarize the novel models of education and serve as a reference for educators. In the wake of a global pandemic, coronavirus-19 infection, higher education replaced conventional lecture hall formats with novel methods that are not face-to-face classes ushering in a new era of medical education. Recent studies have shown that social media has gradually emerged as an essential ancillary educational tool in cardiology. These studies recommend the integration of social media as well as other remote learning tools such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and smart glasses into the standard bedside and didactic curricula. However, educators will need research-based guidelines to inform instructional planning and implementation that ensure adequate exposure and fulfillment of the necessary competency requirements. The current role of social media, medical computer software applications, online tools, and virtual platforms and technology play a valuable role in modern-day cardiology training. This review examines each of these tools’ advantages and disadvantages as well as the notable gap in knowledge.