Last updated: 6/19/2020
NOTE: This section is in its early stages as MedEd and Clerkship Directors finalize guidelines. This page will continue to be updated as more information is received.
Feedback form: https://forms.gle/KTy5nLFmLL5DwXubA
What is a medical student’s role in COVID-19 patient care?
MedEd specific guidance for medical students can be found here and here (updated 6/15/20).
Third and fourth year students may fully participate in clinical activities, including those with patients who are COVID-19 positive or patient under investigation (PUI).
Medical students may NOT be first-line providers for any COVID-19 positive patient (the initial person to be contacted by the patient care staff for any questions, concerns, issues requiring an immediate or urgent response.)
Ambulatory/Geriatric Care
Specific COVID-19/PPE Guidelines
- Supervisors/attendings are responsible for maintaining proper social distancing and PPE requirements in each service.
- Please reach out to clerkship directors if you note any gaps.
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Dress code:
- Inpatient (Wards/Floor/Unit Setting): Scrubs or professional attire with clean white coat (required)
- Outpatient: Professional clothing with clean white coat (required)
How clerkship activities will be mitigated
- Many will be virtual. More information to come during orientation.
Helpful COVID-19 Graphics and Links
Anesthesiology
Specific COVID-19/PPE guidelines
- All patients are tested for COVID-19 prior to arriving in the OR.
- Medical students will not be in emergency cases with COVID-19 positive patients.
Where to find PPE in each site
- On the first day of rotation, each medical student will receive a brown bag with PPE including: a Halyard mask, some surgical masks, an eye shield, a bottle of hand sanitizer
- Standard OR PPE (hats, surgical masks, gloves) will be available at nursing stations
How procedures will be mitigated
- Medical students will not be performing any airway management at this time including mask ventilation, intubation and LMA insertion.
- Video intubations can be watched on the screen in the OR
How clerkship activities will be mitigated
- Lectures will be virtual via ZOOM; interactive sessions such as airway management will have a small number of participants, with masks, gloves, available hand sanitizer and social distancing.
- Proper sanitizing of equipment between sessions.
Emergency Medicine
Specific COVID-19/PPE Guidelines
- Students will follow the same protocols as residents and other staff for PPE.
- Each site has ensured adequate PPE stock for students
- Guidelines for recommended PPE use based on CDC and hospital policies will be shared with each student at the beginning of rotation.
- Dress code: Scrubs or professional attire is welcome. White coats are optional.
How clerkship activities will be mitigated
- Didactics and labs will be held in-person if proper social distancing regulations can be found
A note from the Clerkship Director, Dr. Shefali Trivedi:
- We are excited to have all of our students re-join us in the ED. This is a new normal for all of us. Our ED, staff, patients, friends, and family, have all experienced something we never have before; some of us have been challenged with the varied presentations of COVID-19, and some of us have experienced the travesty of this pandemic in various ways. This pandemic has been emotionally and mentally taxing for everyone in different ways. We understand our students, though they were not in the ED, were affected by this pandemic in their own ways as well. Please remind our students to feel free to speak to us at any time to discuss anything at all... from medically challenging questions to emotional stories.. anything. Though our nation and our city have seen some great improvements in the numbers of patients affected, hospitalizations, and deaths related to COVID-19, it is still very present. There is speculation of a possible second wave as well. Please remember to always wear appropriate PPE, when appropriate. If there are ever any questions about what PPE to wear when, etc, please feel free to ask your team/attending/CD. We're all in this together. We're all going to look out for each other.
Helpful COVID-19 Resources
Inpatient (Hospital) Medicine
Specific COVID-19/PPE Guidelines
- Per hospital guidance, full PPE with face shield + mask + gown + gloves is needed for any COVID-19 positive or PUI patients
- Dress code: professional attire or scrubs are allowed
How clerkship activities will be mitigated
- Preceptor sessions will be in person and follow social distancing hospital guidelines
- All didactics will be held over Zoom
- Students will not be asked to complete a post-discharge visit assignment
Helpful COVID-19 Graphics
Neurology
Specific COVID-19/PPE Guidelines
- Policies follow medical education guidance
OBGYN
Specific COVID-19/PPE guidelines
- L&D – Each patient and support person admitted for antepartum reasons or for labor is tested for COVID-19 on admission. Each patient and support person scheduled for procedures are tested 1 -2 days before procedure.
- Dress code: Scrubs are required. White coats optional.
- Gyn OR -- Each patient scheduled for procedures is tested 1 -2 days before procedure.
- Outpatient – Each patient will be seen via telehealth as much as possible. If the patient needs to present to the office, the patient, staff, and office will follow social distancing rules.
- For all COVID-19 positive or PUI (pending under investigation) patients and support persons, full PPE is used.
Helpful COVID-19 Graphics
Pediatrics
Specific COVID-19/PPE guidelines
- Guidance will follow those from the hospital and Medical Education
Pediatric COVID-19 considerations
- Children have a different clinical picture with acute COVID-19. There is less respiratory disease, and far fewer hospital admissions, in the pediatric population compared to the adult population.
- Children are experiencing a post-viral syndrome occurring about one month after the primary illness called Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). These children are generally COVID-19 antibody positive.
Psychiatry
Specific COVID-19/PPE guidelines
- Students will see all patients in all settings with PPE as dictated by the hospital/medical education
- Dress code: Scrubs and white coats are optional.
How clerkship activities will be mitigated
- Orientation and mid-clerkship meetings will be held through Zoom platform
- Students will continue to participate in ECT
- Clinical presentations vary department to department. Some are virtual.
- All didactics are through Zoom platform
- Students will continue to participate in the psychiatric ED, with some students assigned to the psychED as their clerkship location
- The suicide risk assessment OSCE will change to the Direct Observation format
Surgery
Specific COVID-19/PPE Guidelines
- Dress code: Scrubs are required. White coats optional.