FEATURE
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their study period (pending whether Prometric testing centers
have reopened). They are also limited in their selection of study
spots, as our medical campus library and area coffee shops are
closed. I would personally find it challenging to study for such
a high-stakes exam while my loved ones are at risk of infection.
We wish them all the best in achieving their target exam scores!
»
M1s: ULSOM’s newest students are fortunate in that they are not
currently preparing for board exams and do not begin rotations
for another year. They are completing their curriculum online
and will be finished by mid-May. However, most of the enrich-
ing activities once available during their 10-week summer, such
as biomedical research and global health service trips, have been
canceled. Students may be disadvantaged by no longer having
the summer months to distinguish themselves in certain areas
of medicine. (I hope they know that we upperclassmen stand
ready to serve as resources and mentors!)
Physician leaders have suggested that the above changes to
medical education are the most significant in decades, and some
have compared the upheaval to the World War II era, when medi-
cal students graduated after only three years of schooling. Nobody
knows when we’ll return to regular duties, but for the time being,
we attempt to make good use of the free time we’ve been granted.
Many of us have discovered new ways to volunteer, such as answer-
ing calls on Kentucky’s COVID-19 hotline, providing child care for
health care workers and delivering groceries to elderly folks. We
practice social distancing and encourage our friends and family
to do the same. “Quarantine” has become our cultural norm: we
exchange recipes, channel pent-up energy into silly videos, connect
on FaceTime or Zoom, share home workouts on social media and
binge-watch awesome television.
But I believe I speak for many of my classmates when I say I feel
guilty that my days are so relaxed while our medical colleagues are
working overtime. It’s unfair that I’m in my pajamas baking pumpkin
bread while my friends and mentors are risking their lives without
sufficient PPE to treat sick patients. If the coronavirus had been
delayed in its global assault by a mere fifteen months, my classmates
and I would certainly be on the frontlines of the pandemic. Thus, it
comes as no surprise that a national debate has emerged over the
role of health professional students in the pandemic. COVID-19 is
expected to overwhelm our health care system, leaving a temporary
shortage of medical professionals in its wake. Why not mobilize
thousands of available student doctors?
Proponents of involving medical students in the direct care of
COVID-19 patients assert that the benefits of learning in settings of
scarcity and crisis outweigh the associated risks. Students are most
likely young and healthy, so they are low-risk for developing serious
illness. Some assert that excluding trainees from difficult scenarios
undermines medical professionalism and sends the message that
physicians may excuse themselves when the task is too dangerous
or inconvenient. Many others, including the AAMC, argue the
opposite: students are non-essential, so PPE should be reserved
for experienced practitioners who will utilize the scarce resource
more effectively. Furthermore, students could be asymptomatic or
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
mildly-symptomatic vectors, introducing unnecessary risk to others.
Objectors to using students also posit that attendings and residents
will not have the capacity to educate, and students would literally be
paying thousands of tuition dollars in exchange for unsupervised,
life-risking encounters. It would be unethical to take advantage of
newcomers’ enthusiasm and naivety.
Locally, debate over the medical student role has taken the form
of conflicting guidance from our medical school’s leaders and from
the state health department. ULSOM, following AAMC guidance,
has clearly advised us to not participate in any direct patient care.
Instead, we are urged to continue our studies from home and to
prepare for upcoming exams. Meanwhile, the Commissioner for the
Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH), Dr. Steven Stack,
is convinced that the state will soon be in dire need of hundreds
of student volunteers. He has implored all health professional stu-
dents to enlist to serve the commonwealth, and he advocates that
we would become heroes and gain once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
As could be expected, several hundred health professional stu-
dents, including a few hundred medical students representing the
state’s three medical schools, expressed interest in the KDPH re-
sponse team. At the time of writing, a handful of medical student
colleagues from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine
and the University of Pikeville-Kentucky College of Osteopathic
Medicine are already deployed in Lyon County, helping quell an
outbreak in a nursing home. We are all eager to serve our fellow
Kentuckians, but we weigh the competing asks of people we admire,
fear of contagion and academic uncertainty. Medical students will
have to consider individual risk factors and motivations as the
pandemic situation changes, but we have the unique privilege of
choosing between safety at home and meaningful volunteerism.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of our active
involvement, and it is uncertain how many students will ultimately
answer the call to serve. Nevertheless, I know my generation will
be well-prepared to lead when the next major global health threat
emerges.
COVID-19 has made me feel worried about the safety of my
loved ones, frustrated by national figures’ dismissal of facts and
outraged by our country’s systemic inequities. Nevertheless, as I
write from the safety of my comfortable home, my overwhelming
emotion is gratitude for my fellow Kentuckians keeping society
afloat through essential jobs and saving lives through preventive
policies and medical care.
I’ve recently developed a habit of taking late-night walks around
my neighborhood. I savor the crisp night air and fresh scents of
spring, and I let myself be moved by the many front porches illumi-
nated green. The color, a symbol of compassion and renewal, is how
our state has chosen to honor the victims of COVID-19. In these
moments where unity is visible, I am proud to be a future physician
and Kentucky native. From one member of #TeamKentucky to the
next, I remind you that we will beat this virus by sticking together
(but not too close).
Jerome Soldo is a third-year medical student at the University of Louisville School
of Medicine.