WVSOM Pivots Operations During COVID-19
By Samantha Cart
Throughout the past year , medical educators and administrators had a choice to make — compromise on the quality of training their students receive or find a way to persevere safely . Medical education , and osteopathic medicine specifically , relies heavily on hands-on learning activities , which had to be altered to accommodate Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines .
In July 2020 , the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine ( WVSOM ) started on its plan to divide up labs that would normally host 100 students at a time into groups of 22 students and three instructors , referred to as pods , for the fall semester . Each pod of students began participating in labs together to limit unnecessary interaction and potential virus spread . This way , should an individual become infected , only that pod would need to quarantine rather than the entire class . This model was used to complete last year ' s spring semester and is still being used today .
“ The difficulty with medical education is that there are certain skills you must learn and practice that cannot be done online ,”
UniCare Health Plan of West Virginia , Inc . serves more than 175,000 Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries living in West Virginia .
For more information about UniCare , visit unicare . com / wv . says Craig Boisvert , D . O ., vice president of academic affairs and dean of WVSOM . “ An example would be a physical examination . Where possible , we have used a telehealth platform to work on communication and history taking skills , but some things such as learning to examine someone ’ s eyes or palpating an abdomen must be done in person . We are very thankful for our adjunct faculty and hospital partners that allow our third- and fourth-year students to continue to learn in their facilities during this pandemic .”
WVSOM also made changes to its student orientation process . Prior to the fall semester , WVSOM asked all students to quarantine for two weeks . Upon returning to campus , students participated in drive-through COVID- 19 testing and received personal protective equipment , including a KN95 mask , a handsewn cloth mask made by WVSOM staff and a face shield to be used in all labs . At this time , all lectures are being presented on a live stream with a chat feature and polling slides to judge understanding as the lecture proceeds .
200 Association Drive , Suite 200 Charleston , WV 25311 1-800-782-0095
WVE : In your opinion , how well did West Virginia ’ s health care industry respond and adapt to the coronavirus pandemic ?
CM : There is always some inherent competition between different entities in any industry sector , whether it is Walmart and Amazon or Kroger and Giant Eagle . I think there has been historic competition in the health care industry as well , as that is fair and good and part of business . Health care is the biggest business industry in our state . It employs more people and generates more revenue . It has been encouraging to see the great deal of collaboration and connection around supporting each other during the past year . Our health care assets have come together as a single West Virginia network .
We aren ’ t running a drill anymore . This is no longer a fire drill ; there is a real fire we are running toward , and it is really inspiring to see the collaboration and service of our people . There are a lot of heroes out there . There is no more competition , no more us versus them . It is really everyone working together . There has been a lot of selfless service done by the health care industry to continue to provide the care West Virginians need . I am really proud .
WVE : How will the pandemic impact health care in the long term ?
CM : We have learned we can work remotely and stay highly productive . The use of telemedicine and telepresence has really been done at much higher levels during this pandemic , and it has been really effective . Even having the ability to do a telephone call — not just video visits — because some people don ’ t have the high-speed internet or the capability to do that , has been really successful .
We also learned that by working together as a community , we do better . By starting to look at the flow of people in and out of our hospitals , we learned how to control the capacity issues much better than we knew before . I think that is really important because eventually you have to maintain that vital capacity to be able to operate .
WVE : What are the most important lessons you think we as a state have learned from this situation ?
76
WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE