SARS and Mac Med

[Guest macdaddyeh]

Although it has been discussed briefly or superficially in the sporadic post I would like to know what impact SARS has had/is having/will have on your (our?) medical education at Mac?

 

Many of us recall the last minute change of plans for interviews because of SARS fears so I would like to know if policies and procedures have negatively impacted your med school experience. I believe one or more mac-attending posters alluded to the fact that SARS has necessitated the cancellation of all horizontal electives, but have there been more consequences, confusion and irritation with the whole SARS thing?

 

I ask because I've heard from a number of health professionals (not all MD's) that SARS has permanently altered the practice of medicine to the chagrin of many...just like I'm sure the advent of HIV/AIDS changed the landscape of health care delivery. I've even heard a friend of mine (a RN) discuss the fact that a number of her colleagues have contemplated quitting.

 

Many say this is a pivotal if not frightening time to be practicing medicine (media frenzy aside). What are your thoughts on this [directed mostly toward current Mac students]?

[Guest jmh2005]

I have to admit, it has had a huge impact on our education, specifically with respect to clinical skills in this unit.

 

We missed out on at least 7 or 8 weeks of clinical skills with our preceptors (many of whom are internal medicine specialists who would be 1st call if a SARS-suspect case came into the ED) and we didn't want to risk the possiblity of being put into forced quarantine, therefore we didn't meet off site (some groups who's preceptors we're not as high risk met off site and continued with teaching, but they didn't see patients).

 

The admin couldn't do much about this either, they did schedule 1 session for us to meet at a local clinic, but this was much too little, too late in my opinion...

 

It was very inconvenient, a total pain trying to reschedule everything (we couldn't even have a tutorial in the hospital!). All electives were cancelled as well for almost 7 weeks, I myself missed several ER shifts. Like MacMDstudent said, it was really difficult just going to class and tutorial, I missed doing my clinical work, seeing and talking to patients... actually many of us were quite cranky about the whole thing.

 

However, with all this being said, in retrospection...public safety had to come first. And it did. Medical students are at high risk...we can move quite freely from hospital to hospital and even hospital to hospital within other cities as well. We really didn't know what we were dealing with and I'm not even sure we know now, with SARS 2...

 

I understand why things happened the way they did and I do commend the public health initiatives taken...however, it definately had an impact on our education as it has on health care in general. I'm not sure when things will totally get back to 'normal' (however, I think we are working towards that now!) as we can pretty much come and go as we please.

 

As inconvenienced as we, medical students were, who I really feel for are those in Toronto on the front lines, the Doc's and RNs who have to work with such high-risk patients with all the necessary precautions. Those conditions are extremely difficult to work under, physically and mentally. many RNs at the affected hospitals are not going back, they have had enough, I don't blame them. Already we are short of RNs, this is going to make the situation go from bad to worse!

 

These workers are to be commended for a job well done... Just my two cents!

[Guest gucio93]

I must say that the "inconvenience" to clerks was minimal in the large scheme of things. We only missed one week of clinical work. Tutorials were held off site. It really has not affected our ability to continue our education.

 

I can imagine how anxiety producing the delays can be for students in Toronto. Although it must also be irritating to all my colleagues who have more theory work to do and, as jmh has pointed out, had to make many more sacrifices, I don't believe that they will be disadvantaged in the future. In my humble opinion, and personal experience, as much fun as the horizontal electives are, not having done them will not place anyone at a disadvantage when trying to match in CaRMS, etc.

[Guest macMDstudent]

For those of you who have been to our campus, you know then that the med school facilities (lecture halls, medical library, medical bookstore, anatomy lab, etc) are all physically located in the hospital building. I don't think this situation has ever happened before or was considered when the building was constructed. If our education facilities were in a different buidling that the hospital, it would have only meant a curtailing of clinical work, but it would not have affected the academic side of things. As it was, I missed a couple tutorials, had a couple tutorials without a tutor since the tutor could not get away to meet us outside the hospital, and I missed about 8 clinical skills sessions.

 

No lectures were missed. All lectures were moved around campus to any available lecture hall for the 7 weeks, which made us actually see other parts of the campus for a change. But that was also frustrating in trying to find a different building/room each time. The medical library moved the reserve section to the arts library, the bookstore set up a temporary location in a classroom in a different building. The anatomy tutors brought models and some specimens to meet groups of students in other buildings.

 

All in all, it was frustrating and an inconvenience but I don't think the things that were missed will have a huge long term impact on our education. What it did was take the wind out of my sails, and I have not picked up the pace again since the situation ended and we have had full access to the hospitals. I am just sort of cruising through to the end of the unit and will be full time clinical for 8 weeks this summer, so I'm just focusing on all the end of unit things I have to do. Although I love clinical work and seeing patients, as gucio93 said, horizontal electives are not crucial in the grand scheme of things. Missing a few half days for 7 or 8 weeks will make no difference in the long run.

 

As far as the "new normal" in the health care field, I think it will be here to stay. Isolation negative pressure rooms are going to be more common and a good system of protocols for the protection of health workers will be established. I'm sure it is something we can all get used, both for our own protection and the protection of the public. As jmh2005 said, we have to respect the quarantine process and lead by example for public health's sake.