ECU medical students resume clinical rotations for the first time since COVID-19
Medical students at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine recently returned to clinical rotations for the first time since rotations were halted because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Third-and-fourth year students were able to return to approved clinical spaces, under the supervision of faculty and clerkship directors, beginning June 8.
“While students have returned to patient care experiences, they are not in contact with COVID-19 patients or others who are suspected to have the virus,” said Dr. Kendall M. Campbell, senior associate dean for academic affairs at the Brody School of Medicine. “They also are carefully following safety guidelines, including the proper use of personal protective equipment like masks.”
The clinical simulation lab at the Brody School of Medicine holds provides virtual classes for ECU medical and nursing students. (Photo contributed by Dr. Walter Robey)
As the pandemic evolved and on-campus instruction and clinical activities for students were halted, the Brody School of Medicine followed national recommendations from the Association of American Colleges (AAMC) and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) – when it made the decision to pull students from clinical rotations.
“Clinical rotations were discontinued in the interest of preserving personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline hospital staff, due to the critical shortages of that equipment at the onset of the pandemic,” Campbell said. “The decision also enabled our faculty and hospital staff to focus more of their attention on caring for patients, given the concern for the potential volume of patients and the degree of illness.”
However, it was important for the students to return to in-person clinical experiences because the LCME mandates evaluating patients as a requirement for successfully completing clinical rotations, therefore third- and fourth-year students could not have entirely virtual experiences to successfully meet the mandated learning objectives.
Even though the clinical rotations were halted for several weeks, Campbell said Brody leadership was able to keep medical students on track to graduate on time.
“We don’t measure loss by time, we measure it by whether or not learning objectives will be compromised,” Campbell said. “Even with the changes that we have had to make for our clinical learners, adjusting rotation length and providing pandemics courses, we are meeting our learning objectives.”
Foundational first- and second-year medical students are also still on track with their learning objectives, as their instruction shifted from in-person to virtual.
Brody School of Medicine fourth year medical students returned to clinical rotations on June 8. (Photo by Gretchen Baugh)
“Plans are still being finalized for foundational learners for the fall. We anticipate a hybrid of in-person and virtual learning – maintaining learning objectives and meeting social distance and other guidelines,” Campbell said. “When the year 1 and 2 students came out of the Brody building mid-March, we switched to a virtual platform and delivered the entire block online to keep students moving through the curriculum.”
The importance of Brody’s students returning to their clinical instruction extended beyond their own educational objectives.
“It is important to keep students on track to graduate as best we can to increase health care resources for our state and our region,” Campbell said.
Officials from Vidant Health also worked with ECU leadership in order to facilitate the return of medical students to hospital spaces.
“Vidant is our teaching hospital and has been a great partner in helping us reintroduce students to the clinical space,” Campbell said.
Vidant has taken steps to create a safe environment at all of its facilities, including Vidant Medical Center, by implementing universal masking and screening for all who enter its hospitals and clinics. In addition, Vidant has superior cleaning techniques including sterilization and cleaning protocols such as the use of Solaris UV Lytbots.
An Experiential Learning Committee at ECU developed the process by which medical students could safely return to clinical environments, this includes additional safety precautions to protect the student and patients alike.
Strict safety guidelines remain in place for students, faculty, staff and patients across the Division of Health Sciences.
Everyone visiting an ECU Physicians clinic is screened for COVID-19 symptoms, and there are also screeners at the entrances to the Brody School of Medicine, the College of Nursing and School of Dental Medicine.