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Medical Education and Safety as Co-priorities in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Era: We Can Do Both
Laura Baecher-Lind1, Angela C Fleming, Rashmi Bhargava
1Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; Beaumont Hospital; the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine; Dell Medical School, Austin, Texas; Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont; Loyola University Medical Center, Hines, Illinois; Montefiore Medical Center-Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida; the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan; the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut; the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri; the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center-Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Insights
Medical students, essential for patient care and training, were excluded during the COVID-19 pandemic. This commentary advocates for their reintegration as valued physicians-in-training during health crises.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Public Health Crises
- Healthcare Workforce
Background:
- COVID-19 restricted medical students from clinical work, deeming them nonessential.
- This exclusion contrasts with their historical role in past U.S. public health crises.
- Prioritizing safety led to a loss of valuable clinical experience for students.
Purpose of the Study:
- Advocate for reconsidering medical students as essential physicians-in-training.
- Highlight the benefits of clinical experience for students during pandemics.
- Discuss factors influencing student exclusion and educational principles for inclusion.
Main Methods:
- Commentary and review of historical practices.
- Analysis of educational principles supporting clinical training.
- Discussion of factors leading to exclusion during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Main Results:
- Medical students were sidelined during COVID-19, impacting their training and healthcare teams.
- Exclusion occurred despite students' historical presence during previous health crises.
- Educational principles support maintaining students in clinical settings.
Conclusions:
- Medical students should be viewed as valuable physicians-in-training during pandemics.
- Reintegrating students ensures their formative clinical experiences and supports healthcare teams.
- Educational strategies are needed to maintain clinical training during future health crises.
Abstract:
As hospitals and medical schools confronted coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), medical students were essentially restricted from all clinical work in an effort to prioritize their safety and the safety of others. One downstream effect of this decision was that students were designated as nonessential, in contrast to other members of health care teams. As we acclimate to our new clinical environment and medical students return to the frontlines of health care, we advocate for medical students to be reconsidered as physicians-in-training who bring valuable skills to patient care and to maintain their status as valued team members despite surges in COVID-19 or future pandemics. In addition to the contributions students provide to medical teams, they also serve to benefit from the formative experiences of caring for patients during a pandemic rather than being relegated to the sidelines. In this commentary, we discuss factors that led to students' being excluded from this pandemic despite being required at the bedside during prior U.S. public health crises this past century, and we review educational principles that support maintaining students in clinical environments during this and future pandemics.
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