Working during COVID: FiY1 experience

Written by Ellie Shaw F1 doctor

When we imagined our last few months of medical school, we pictured polishing off our clinical history, examination and procedural skills during the final weeks of placement, knuckling down for our final medical student OSCES and examinations, and celebrating the end of a fantastic five years with socials, a weekend away and the much-anticipated graduation. The uncertainty that began to build as the coronavirus pandemic escalated was undeniable and raised many questions – what will happen to placements and how will our exams go ahead, but most importantly, how bad is this pandemic going to get, and how will the NHS cope?

Once placements were cancelled as of the 20th March, and a written exam was brought forwards to the April, we were left in strange circumstances – unable to celebrate or travel as we would have liked, but most importantly acutely aware of the stress that the NHS is under.

The assistantship period was optional for final year students, but I was very keen and pleased to be able to help out in one of our local hospitals. The first thing I noticed was how eerily quiet the hospital corridors were, as opposed to the usual hustle and bustle of workers, patients and visitors. We started on the wards that afternoon, many of which were now ‘positive’ wards, manned by their usual staff, but also consultants and trainees who had been pulled from their specialities to help with the pandemic. It was clear things were running very differently to what we have known – entering patient bays and seeing patients required gloves, apron, surgical mask and a visor and particular care to thorough hand hygiene and emphasis on minimising in-and-out movement between bays. The visiting restrictions brought upon us a heightened importance of communicating with relatives- the difficulty of separation was evident from both patients and relatives, and giving important updates over the phone was tough – often the condition of our patients was variable day to day, and bad news, or lack of positive news, was hard to give over the phone rather than in person. Speaking to patients and hearing their fears and difficulties in lockdown was heart-breaking, and it was an honour to be able to offer support and comfort through holistic care. The most important thing I learnt from assistantship was the amazing ability of the NHS and its staff to adapt so quickly and how KEY team working is- the way Solihull hospital ran changed almost overnight to protect its patients and staff and ensure adequate and safe staffing, and the way the staff almost lost concepts of set roles, and rather all got stuck in to do anything that was required to support patients and colleagues.

Once my assistantship period ended, I began my first F1 rotation in acute medicine as an ‘interim’ and was again struck by the welcoming nature and comradery of the team there. They were coming out of what had a been hugely stressful period during the peak of coronavirus, having all changed their work schedules and sacrificed their annual leaves to allow the hospital to cope with the huge numbers of cases, as well as many staff members taking sick leave due to suffering from coronavirus themselves. Now it seemed that the infectious diseases and respiratory wards had the capacity to care for the patients with coronavirus, so the acute medical service was beginning to face its normal stresses of medical presentations, with the added stress of staffing difficulties. This period was a huge learning curve for me with regards to medical and clinical knowledge and working life practicalities. Again, seeing the adaptation of the service in such a short time period was admirable, and for me, the interim period has been invaluable in demonstrating true teamwork and support networks amongst ward colleagues.

The coronavirus pandemic has been truly devastating, in so many ways, for everyone, but I am pleased I was able to help out the amazing NHS services during this time, and feel privileged to have witnessed the amazing efforts and moral of all of the NHS key workers.