FEATURE
A MEDICAL STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE ON COVID-19
AUTHOR Jerome Soldo
T
he rapid spread of COVID-19
throughout the US has resulted in
polarization and division, with gov-
ernment leaders and media person-
alities on both sides of the political
aisle blaming those on the other for
our current public health and eco-
nomic crisis. Paradoxically, this is perhaps the
moment in American history when the rest
of us have most profoundly supported and appreciated each other.
Our collective actions illustrate the role of unity in overcoming
this pandemic.
Kentucky’s proactive coronavirus response effectively classified
people as either essential at work or essential at home. Farmers,
grocery store employees, garbage collectors, custodians, health
care professionals and many other professions are appropriately
lauded for their efforts serving society by heroically showing up
to work. Everyone else stays “healthy at home,” and regardless of
their employment status, they are thanked for sacrificing individual
liberties to flatten the curve. Caught in the middle between these
two defined roles are health professional students, whose duty to
state, country and profession is currently being debated.
demic affects medical training is dependent on one’s year in school.
» M4s: Louisville’s newest doctors will still graduate on time,
but unfortunately without the well-deserved celebrations and
traditions that enrich the months before residency. Senior Week
festivities and vacations were canceled, and Match Day and
graduation were moved online. Approximately 75% of the class
is completing residency at other institutions, so most will have
to house-hunt in unfamiliar locations and make cross-country
moves despite the ongoing pandemic. When they begin their
intern year a couple short months from now (if they are even
permitted to begin on time), they might be doing so in com-
munities severely affected by COVID-19. Some M4s in other
states have already been granted MDs and enlisted to battle
the virus as physicians.
» M3s: My classmates and I are away from clinical service, but
we continue moving forward by studying the content of the
clerkships in which we would otherwise be participating. We
will take each clerkship’s corresponding exam from home on
a secure testing browser that ULSOM staff proctor through
Zoom, a video conferencing program. Our school’s leaders
(who have been absolutely wonderful during this time of peak
stress) have informed us to expect to complete 50% of our
missed rotations when we are allowed to return to the clinical
environment, most likely in the summer or fall. My class is
concerned about how these delays will affect our carefully-con-
structed fourth-year schedules and how the pandemic may
interfere with away rotations and residency prospects. For
example, emergency medicine (EM) has canceled all visiting
student rotations for the 2020-2021 academic year, and these
opportunities have traditionally been vital to the EM residency
application process. “Uncertainty” is by far the best word to
describe our present experience.
» M2s: Our school’s busiest learners are currently in a metaphor-
ical no man’s land. They have finished their M2 curriculum
online and have entered “dedicated” to prepare for the Step One
licensing exam. For many students, this is the most dreadful
period in all of medical school. Most students are scheduled to
take the exam in late May or early June, and they will be studying
for nearly every waking hour until then without the certainty
that they will be able to sit for the exam at the conclusion of
The debate is as novel as the coronavirus itself, emerging from
unique circumstances. Throughout January and February, life at the
University of Louisville School of Medicine (ULSOM) and other
medical schools around the country continued at its regular, hurried
pace. Fourth-year students finished graduation requirements and
submitted rank lists for residency programs, third-year students
continued core clerkships, and first and second-year students at-
tended lectures and studied for exams. COVID-19 remained an
abstract, far-away threat.
However, March ushered in the most consequential changes to
medical education in decades. When COVID-19 cases skyrocketed
in early March, the pre-clinical curriculum moved completely online.
Clinical students continued working in patient care settings until
March 17th, when the Association of American Medical Colleges
(AAMC) issued guidance directing that all medical schools nation-
wide immediately “pause” student rotations due to concerns over
student safety and personal protective equipment (PPE) availability.
While many medical students’ plans for the remainder of the year
have been unraveled in the past month, the extent to which the pan-
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MAY 2020
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