Alberta's 3rd and 4th year medical students -- off-ward during the COVID-19 pandemic -- make invaluable contributions to our pandemic response; including contact tracing, patient education and direct supports to front-line physicians.
In addition, University of Alberta medical students have rallied to help to Connect Care clinicians at Wave 1 sites in the Edmonton Zone. Many pandemic-response providers are newly trained, or re-trained for new roles, as part of staff redeployment. For these clinicians, COVID challenges can be complicated by unfamiliar Connect Care workflows.
Medical students are tooling up to serve as super-users. They will help clinicians who may struggle with new ways of ordering, documenting and communicating. Other clinical informatics roles expand our clinical system design and testing capacity, while fanning-out practical tips for busy physicians.
Student contributions reflect a lot of work! Super users complete advanced learning modules in multiple tracks (e.g., surgery, emergency, inpatient, critical are), while mastering virtual user-support technologies. Medical student leaders also organize scheduling so that supports are available at all times.
A big thank-you to our medical learners and education leaders! Their initiative helps clinicians stay on task.