How Medical Schools are dealing with COVID-19

WayOutWestMom · March 27

Florida State University medical students volunteer at drive-through SARS-Cov-2 pop-up testing facilities.

WayOutWestMom · March 27

Columbia has accelerated the graduation of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons class of 2020 to assist the growing demand for physicians and clinical staff. Next month, all graduates will have the option to be employed by the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

WayOutWestMom · March 27

The four Massachusetts medical schools have agreed to Gov. Charlie Baker’s request to graduate medical students early to help fight the coronavirus, the schools announced Thursday. The schools include Boston University, Tufts University, Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts.”

“Anticipating a surge in the number of COVID-19 hospital patients, the deans of the four Massachusetts medical schools have agreed to the state’s request to move up the graduation dates of their fourth-year medical students, allowing them to join doctors on the frontlines of the pandemic up to eight weeks earlier than they would have been able to,” the schools wrote in a statement.

The students will graduate April 17 instead of May 17, the schools said. And if they choose to, they can begin working immediately in area hospitals. Approximately 700 students are eligible for early graduation.

“We will be prepared if the schools graduate early to provide 90-day provisional licenses through the Board of Registration of Medicine a one-page application,” said Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders during the governor’s daily coronavirus update.

WayOutWestMom · March 27

“In response to the growing spread of COVID-19, and in response to Governor Cuomo’s directive to get more physicians into the health system more quickly, NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU have agreed to permit early graduation for its medical students” pending approval from accreditation bodies, an NYU spokesperson told TPM Wednesday."

WayOutWestMom · March 27

A spokesperson for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City told TPM Thursday that the school was reviewing a “tentative plan” to allow for early graduations.

“We have most of the pieces worked out already, there will be an opportunity to graduate early from medical school,” Dr. David Muller, Sinai’s dean for medical education, told students in a video town hall Wednesday. Brief19, a COVID-19 information source run by several doctors, published a clip of the town hall Thursday.

“The tentative date that we’ve set right now is April 14,” Muller said.

WayOutWestMom · March 27

Cornell-Weill SOM and NYIT-COM will graduate their students early.

Lousiana State SOM will be graduating its students early.

WayOutWestMom · March 27

More than 200 military medical students and graduate nursing students from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, known as USU, will be graduating early to support their colleagues in the U.S. military health system amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

WayOutWestMom · March 27

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the official medical school accrediting body in the U.S. and Canada, gave a brief stamp of approval to early graduations in a letter Wednesday night.

“In the context of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic, medical schools may be considering an option for eligible final-year medical students to graduate early,” the letter reads.

Students who’ve met a given medical school’s educational and clinical requirements “may be eligible for early graduation,” LCME said.

TiggerDad · March 27

What about any changes in the admissions? My son, who's scheduled to take an MCAT exam in late April, told me that the earlier test dates have been canceled and that he's expecting his to be canceled, as well. If students can't take MCAT exams, I'd expect the medical schools to modify their admissions procedures?

WayOutWestMom · March 27

Einstein SOM has asked all its furloughed 4th year medical students to return.

Students have a choice of 3 options:
1) sub-I w/ expanded duties in a COVID-19 ward
2) sub-i with expanded duties in a non-COVID ward
3) rotation in Occupational Medicine, telemedicine or some other no patient contact field.

Options #1 and #2 will count toward graduation credit; option $3 will not

WayOutWestMom · March 27

@TiggerDad

Only 2 MCAT testing dates have been cancelled as of today.

Allopathic medical schools accept applications until anywhere from October 31 (the earliest application closure date ) to mid-January (the latest application closure date)

Osteopathic medical schools accept applications until mid-March.

As of now, no plans have been made to make changes to the upcoming application cycle.

thumper1 · March 27

Here is what med school students in Georgia are doing.

https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/georgia-medical-students-work-free-doctors-coronavirus-fight/TaJ3ao6hu2cmW8rXhVjEzO/

WayOutWestMom · March 27

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/unm-medical-student-creates-website-to-help-health-care-workers/5685467/

UNM med students volunteer to support HCWs.

Gangwish said a group of 4th year medical students, including himself, realized with schools, childcare centers and local resources shut down temporarily, there would be a need to support all hospital staff.

“Since we’ve been healthcare workers ourselves, we know how hard it is to take care of your children, your pets, cook dinner, those kind of things when you’re working long hours at the hospital,” Gangwish said. “If you’re in the hospital working 15, 16 hours a day; helping people who are sick with COVID, you cannot do those things for yourself."

“CoronaCareNM is designed to help healthcare providers as well as hospital staff, nurses, doctors, techs, secretaries, the housekeepers, the security at the hospital -- anyone who is working in that currently high risk environment that might need better support,” Gangwish said. “It’s a completely free service for the community.”

WayOutWestMom · March 27

UCSF med students are running a PPE collection drive for their hospital. They collected over 8600 masks in the first 3 days of the drive.

See: https://www.donateppe.org/drives for times and locations of collection points.

WayOutWestMom · March 27

University of Minnesota medical students are providing support to HCWs using a web platform that is usually used to help med students find clinical rotations.

https://www.mncovidsitters.org

WayOutWestMom · March 27

Alpert SOM students are assisting HCWs in a variety of ways

https://www.brown.edu/news/2020-03-24/volunteers

The medical students are offering their expertise in multiple ways. To date, 152 students have volunteered to staff the 24/7 COVID-19 hotline for Lifespan, the state’s largest health system. Students assist a wide range of callers, including providers, patients and concerned members of the community.

Other efforts to assist continue to coalesce daily. Physicians based at practices have requested help from students with phone triage. The Rhode Island Department of Health has reached out in search of clinical student volunteers to take on shifts in which they will contribute in non-exposure settings — notifying patients and physicians of test results, investigating exposures, gathering statewide epidemiological data, and presenting histories to clinical experts as they weigh the need for COVID-19 tests.

WayOutWestMom · March 27

University of Arizona will be graduating its med students early form both it Phoenix and Tucson campuses.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2020/03/27/university-arizona-considers-early-graduation-medical-students-coronavirus-covid-19/2921785001/

WayOutWestMom · March 27

@TiggerDad

AMCAS official policy statement RE: the upcoming 20-21 application cycle--

Currently, all AMCAS services are continuing regular operations and there are no changes to our timelines and milestones. The AAMC is continuing to monitor guidance from the CDC and WHO and we have processes in place should we need to make operational adjustments during this rapidly changing situation. If we anticipate delays in application processing due to our mandatory telework status, we will post an update on processing timing on our website.

And

Currently there are no anticipated changes. We are working with the admissions community to determine if changes need to be made to the current or upcoming AMCAS application cycle dates as a result of federal policies and closures due to restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.

You can check for AMCAS policy changes and updates here:
https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/article/coronavirus-covid-19-and-amcas/

TiggerDad · March 27

@WayOutWestMom

Thank you, so very helpful. Will share the link with my son so he can check for any changes himself.

thumper1 · March 30

For NY folks...mentioned by your governor today.

https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/get-involved-how-you-can-help

WayOutWestMom · April 2

@TiggerDad

UCSF has issued a statement concerning the cancellation and delay of MCAT testing

UCSF will accept applications from individuals who were unable to take the MCAT due to COVID-related test cancellations. For these candidates, we will base secondary application decisions on the information that is available to us at the time of the application. Assuming that MCAT testing resumes prior to October, we will require applicants to have taken the MCAT before we make admissions decisions for the Class of 2025. If MCAT testing does not resume by October, we will reconsider the requirement. In any case, applicants should not delay applying simply because an MCAT score is not yet available.

How Medical Schools are dealing with COVID-19

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