Texas Medical Schools Response to COVID-19 and Volunteer Resources
Lenexa Morais, TCEP MSC Chair 2019-20
April 17, 2020
As the pandemic has come to affect many aspects of our daily lives, medical education has also been shaped by COVID-19. Nearly a month ago, the AAMC recommended that medical schools strongly consider suspending medical students’ participation in patient contact. This national recommendation manifested as school placing rotations on hold and switching to online curriculums to facilitate education. As the virus began taking a toll on the healthcare system, medical students wished to contribute towards the relief efforts. They mobilized, organized, and adapted to tackle their area’s needs. They have come to provided valuable resources for the healthcare workers serving patients and their efforts are greatly appreciated.
Many Emergency Medicine students in particular mobilized their EM student interest groups to organize PPE drives, buy groceries for healthcare workers, and searched for roles where they could be of assistance.
Below you will find a brief overview of several Texas medical schools responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
University of Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine
Status: The school has switched over to an online curriculum and students do not have any patient contact.
Volunteering: Students are participating in plasma and blood donations, contributing to the Bexar County Medical Society PPE drives, and making PPE deliveries throughout San Antonio.
TCU & UNTHSC School of Medicine
Information provided by McKenna Chalman, MS1
Status: The school of medicine is currently completing an online curriculum for all classes via Zoom. Their clinical skills class is also online and SP encounters are via Zoom. No patient contact is happening during this time, and their Phase 1 LIC (longitudinal integrated clerkship) has been postponed.
Volunteering: "READ" initiative with our Student Affairs office to record videos used in reading comprehension for children and the elderly. "Lessening the Distance" letter writing with SNMA, TMA, LMSA and our Community Outreach chair. The school is working with "Girls Inc." in creating online classes for high school girls interested in STEM. As well as promoting "Helping Hand," a Facebook page created by Juhi Shah, to help run errands for those who can't in her hometown.
TCU Medical School is currently running a PPE drive. There is an ongoing virtual blood drive on social media. Additionally, there is a collaboration with the Tarrant county COVID-19 hotline where medical students assist in answering questions from the community. One of the students, Ali Mahfuz, is starting an NGO nonprofit to manufacture face shields and PPE.
Links:
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
Status: Overall the school has switched over to an online curriculum and students do not have any patient contact.
Volunteering: The school has organized an opportunity for students to volunteer at the COVID testing site, though they are not allowed to have patient contact. There are also student-led endeavors to collect food and provide assistance to front-line workers.
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center-Lubbock, TX
Information provided by Marcus Gonzalez
Status: Overall the school has switched over to an online curriculum and students do not have any patient contact. TTUHSC SOM is currently not accepting any visiting students through 7/1/2020.
Volunteering: Efforts ranging from decontamination of N95 respirators to walking pets of local healthcare workers to running programs. Additionally, TTUHSC SOM students have put together a list of volunteers that are willing to grocery shop, pet sit, babysit, and run other errands for Lubbock healthcare workers.
Links:
- In order to provide faster coding to find a vaccine this link has been made available: https://foldingathome.org/start-folding/
- There is also a group called the West Texas 3D COVID-19 Relief Consortium that has been helping make/deliver 3D-printed masks to Lubbock and rural areas of West Texas. https://www.wt3dreliefconsortium.com/
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Information provided by Bhargav Arimilli
Status: The school has switched over to an online curriculum and students do not have any patient contact.
Volunteering: The university organized a volunteer effort for medical students to babysit the children of faculty/residents. Read the article here.
Baylor College of Medicine
Status: Overall the school has switched over to an online curriculum and students do not have any patient contact. The school plans to resume clinical rotations on May 26th.
Links:
University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX
Status: Overall the school has switched over to an online curriculum and students do not have any patient contact. Clinical rotations are set to resume May 18th.
Volunteering: There are many ongoing student volunteer efforts such as: PPE drives, grocery shopping, pet sitting, babysitting, and other needs.
Links:
We hope you all continue to keep in good health and would like to support you during this difficult time.
If you have any questions or concerns, or would like to share any resources from your school, please email [email protected].
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