‘Filling the gap’: Medical students graduating early to support COVID-19 response

Medical schools across the country have announced that they are graduating final year medical students early to allow them to enter their residencies as much-needed additions to the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was very excited to find out that I was offered early graduation,” Alexander James Ordoobadi, a final year medical student at Harvard Medical School who will be beginning his surgery residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told Healio Primary Care. “It can be frustrating to watch a health care crisis unfold and not be able to help, so I am grateful for the opportunity to start residency early during the pandemic.”

Harvard Medical School made early graduation voluntary to eligible students, and it is up to the hospitals where students will complete their residency to determine whether or not they will allow them to start working before the original start time in June, according to a press release.

Entering the field in ‘uncertain’ times

“Each hospital, and each clinical department, will decide whether and how this would enhance their efforts,” Edward M. Hundert, MD, the dean for medical education at Harvard Medical School, said in a press release. “The hospitals will let [Harvard Medical School] and the students know what their needs are.”

Ordoobadi explained that medical school has prepared him for patient care, “but we are entering residency at a very uncertain time for our health care system.”

“Never have physicians and other health care workers been asked to take on so much personal risk to care for patients,” he continued, noting that the hospital he is entering has “ample” personal protective equipment and has effective policies to reduce the risk of transmission.

Jason Young

Jason Young, a final year medical student from Harvard Medical School who entering orthopedic surgery residency, said that he and Ordoobadi will be working in their departments “as a way to backfill services for which current residents have been redirected to the [ED] or the ICU to take care of COVID patients ... filling in the gap left by current residents who have been redirected.”

Young explained that part of the reasoning behind his decision was to help “contribute to that effort, and to make sure that my future colleagues — residents who are on the front lines already — can lean on us coming up through the ranks, and that we can be there to help.”

Ordoobadi and Young are currently scheduled to graduate on April 24, 2020.

AMA guidance

The AMA published guidance on protecting medical students graduating early during the pandemic.

The guidance calls for early graduation to be voluntary for students and states that students who do graduate early should not be forced to enter their residency before their initial start date.

The AMA also asks that institutions grant early graduates who begin their residencies with the appropriate salary and benefits and continue efforts to reduce their risk for infections.

“As many physicians-in-training will be enlisted to provide direct patient care during this time, it is our responsibility to ensure that they are being protected and have the support they need to safely navigate the pandemic,” AMA President Patrice A. Harris, MD, said in a press release. “This guidance is intended to keep medical students healthy and safe as some health systems may rely on them to care for patients on the front lines of the pandemic.” – by Erin Michael

Reference:

AMA. AMA guiding principles to protect learners responding to COVID-19. https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/ama-guiding-principles-protect-learners-responding-covid-19. Accessed Apr. 16, 2020.

Disclosures: Ordoobadi and Young report no relevant financial disclosures.