Given the uptick in disease around Einstein, we are taking a "pause" for at least this week by running all activities with >20 students virtually. We are using Mediasite and Zoom for Y1 and 2 couses other than continuing our scheduled clinical skills exams where 10 students at a time rotation in our center. Students will take exams remotely using Examsoft rather than gather in our lecture halls. Y3 and 4 students will also adhere to our policy against large groups. Here are our messages sent last evening:
Year 1/2 First email was sent midday regarding electron remote testing, second concise email outlining remote activities and required in person ones:
Dear Students in Parasitology and Global Medicine,
PLEASE NOTE: The times shown here reflect Daylight Savings Time, which began at 2 am on Sunday, March 8, 2020. Also, this email applies only to the Parasitology Final Exam. Information about the plan for other sessions will be distributed later this evening.
The CDC, several public health guidelines and our own infectious diseases experts are recommending minimizing large gatherings in view of the COVID-19 outbreak. OME & OSA leadership have therefore made the decision to administer the Parasitology Final Exam remotely, as an exam that you take independently under the honor code that you all committed to. Dr. Christina Coyle, the course director, agrees with this decision.
We are relying on your professionalism to self-proctor, which means you should simulate the test environment as much as possible. For example, close the door to your room, put up a "do not disturb" sign, and do not access any study or resource materials.
• The Parasitology Final Exam question file is available for download now and will continue to be available until 8:00 am Monday. We will send the start code between 9:00 am and 9:15 am Monday to your einsteinmed.org email address on file.
• You will be able to begin the exam at any point after you receive the start code but must upload your answer file before 5:00 pm Monday. There is no grace period for failing to upload this exam by the deadline.
• You will have 2.5 hours to complete the exam. Individuals who usually receive additional time to complete exams will have the appropriate extra time available to them. Pay attention to the timer, which will remind you when there are 5 minutes remaining.
• If you experience any problems during – or with uploading of – the exam, call 718-430-3284 and a member of OME and/or IT will assist you. If the line is still busy after two attempts, please call 917-583-4966.
Students who feel they meet criteria for an excused absence should contact Christina Chin ASAP. If you are excused, the dates for taking the make-up exam are Friday, March 13, or Friday, March 27, 2020.
We realize that this is a very difficult time for many of you and appreciate the stressors you are feeling with your ongoing studies, which is compounded by the fluid issue with SARS-COV2/COVID-19. We hope all of you are taking appropriate precautions to stay safe during this period. Your safety and well-being, as well as the safety and well-being of the communities we serve, remain our highest priorities.
As always, let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
Wishing you success in your studies.
Office of Medical Education
Office of Student Affairs
Dear Students,
OME & OSA have decided that all year 1 and 2 lectures this week, Monday, March 9 – Friday, March 13, 2020, will be virtual.
We are still working with course leaders to determine if the sessions will be through standard Mediasite streaming from the lecture spaces (with no students attending) or if they will be via Zoom. Either way, the sessions will be captured for subsequent viewing as well.
IMPORTANT: Students who have assigned clinical skills examinations at the Clinical Skills Center and those in the second year scheduled for fit testing this week are expected to report for these activities.
Our goal is to reduce gatherings of students to less than ~20 students. We will continue to share further information with you as we solidify details.
Sincerely,
Office of Medical Education
Office of Student Affairs
Year 3/4- more extensive information along with some explanation to faculty
Dear Colleagues-
The Einstein Emergency Operations Team for Coronavirus met this evening and made several important decisions I wanted to communicate with you all:
- Einstein will remain open for now.
- Einstein will not permit large gatherings of people. While specific numbers were not discussed, we would recommend considering the lowest possible number you can manage or making teaching sessions virtual (more training forthcoming). Virtual educational sessions are strongly encouraged for the time being. Currently, OSCES that involve less than 10 students in the space at a time will be able to continue, but careful screening of students and SPs for symptoms and exposures will be expected. Feel free to reach out to me with questions about this.
- Einstein will be allowing a lot of personnel to work from home, particularly vulnerable populations.
The email below was circulated to Y3-4 students this evening and will hopefully advise on other important aspects of our recommendations. We specifically addressed a concern about students participation in GME or departmental/divisional educational experiences. We are excusing students from those activities, but not requiring they not attend. Some students will want to attend and we feel we should not limit those. We would encourage each of you to reach out to your appropriate GME departmental leader or other program planner to inquire about their policy for large group educational sessions since they may not have thought of this protocol we are putting into place yet and may choose to cancel or diminish those activities.
As always, we welcome your questions and concerns and look forward to adapting and coming closer together (Figuratively) through this unprecedented situation.
We thank you, as always, for all you do for us and our students!
Sincerely,
Todd (on behalf of Howard, Pablo, Josh, Marty, Mimoza, Steve, Christina, and Allison)
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Dear Year 3 and Year 4 students,
As you probably learned from a recent communication, the College has decided to limit large group gatherings and make much of the pre-clinical learning "virtual". We want to specify plans for Y3 and Y4 students in the clinical experiences:
- Patient care: Per our email from last week, students are expected to maintain their clinical obligations. No student will be allowed to care for a COVID-19 patient or a patient with suspected COVID-19. It is also critical that all students have appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). We have heard from some of you that N-95 masks are sometimes not being distributed to students. We have addressed this with nursing at the clinical sites, but if there are any issues, please do not hesitate to reach out. We also want to reiterate that anybody who is considered "vulnerable" to reach out to OSA and supply a doctor's note and you will be excused from clinical activities. We are currently working on "alternative experiences" so that you can complete your requirements with minimal interruptions.
- Lectures: Given that we feel it is important to limit large-group gatherings, all
student students will be excused from resident/site-based lectures. This includes but is not limited to grand rounds, resident report, noon conference. Other smaller site-specific gatherings may continue as scheduled. College-based clerkship-specific lectures (ie OB Tuesdays, Surgery Mondays, etc) may be changed so please read all communication from your clerkship/site leaders for details.
- Clerkship exams: We are working on holding shelf exams in multiple rooms in order to limit the number of people gathering in any one space. We will continue to communicate in regards to logistics for clerkship exams.
- Personal illness or contact with a suspected COVID-19 case: Please contact your site leader, clerkship director and the Office of Student Affairs. We will put you in touch with a specialist in ID to determine how best to proceed for your safety and the safety of others in the community. Please err on the side of staying home until you are cleared to come back.
We want to thank you all for your patience and flexibility during this uncertain time. We are continuing to monitor the situation carefully and have appreciated hearing from students with comments, questions, or concerns. Together we are confident we can weather this storm and be there for our patients and communities in their time of need. Please do not hesitate to contact the Office of Student Affairs or the Office of Medical Education. We are here for you.
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Joshua Nosanchuk
Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education
ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-07-2020 09:46
From: Jonathan Amiel
Subject: COVID-19 Planning and Messaging
The guidance document @Alison Whelan and the team developed is very helpful, as have been discussions with colleagues at other schools. In case it is useful to others, I am sharing a very brief summary of actions we have taken in our education program and am appending messaging to students regarding (i) policies and (ii) scientific guidance. I'd be curious about how others are thinking through contingency planning.
- Management of University, Health Sciences Campus and Medical School Education Programs.
- The following groups have convened to meet regularly specifically about COVID planning:
- Education and student affairs deans of all the health professions programs (weekly)
- Senior leaders of the health sciences campus schools and missions (twice weekly)
- Joint working group of UME and GME leadership (daily)
- The following groups are meeting ad hoc about COVID planning:
- Provost's committee of education deans of all of the University's schools
- Joint working group of University registrar, student financial services, and controller with their school counterparts
- Communication.
- Hospital community-wide online briefings (daily).
- Directed emails to faculty, staff, and learners with updates on policies (ad hoc).
- Education plans.
- Preparation for transitioning classroom-based learning to online format (variety of previously recorded lectures, live Zoom or Echo large group learning, online communities learning, and Zoom-based small groups) in case that is decided on a University-wide basis.
- Restriction of students in clinical environments from participating in the care of patients suspected or known to have COVID-19.
- Enhanced training in the use of personal protective equipment and conservation measures for PPE.
- Suspension of all incoming and outgoing international away electives.
- No change at this point for incoming or outgoing domestic away electives.
- Student events and clubs.
- Cancellation or re-formatting of all non-educational activities for the coming 30 days (match day is being reformatted, admitted students events will be virtual)
- Temporary closing of student-run clinics with committed backup care for their patients.
- No change at this point for graduation events.
I'll try to update this as we move along.
Mar 5 Message to Students - COVID and VP&S Students
Dear VP&S Students:
We are writing to update you on the planning we are involved in with the University and Medical Center leadership that affects your experience as learners. Please read this message fully and carefully.
The COVID-19 situation is being very closely monitored and local, national, and international public health measures are being taken to mitigate the spread of illness.
At present, the following policies have been set by the University and CUIMC:
• Students with symptoms should not attend class or participate in patient care and should call CUIMC Student Health Service at 212-305-3400.
Student travel
• Students are required to comply with the
Provost's guidance relating to reporting travel to countries with a high burden of COVID as determined by the Centers for Disease Control.
• Spring break personal travel: no restrictive mandates for students other than following CDC recommendations and federal travel bans
• Columbia sponsored travel (including conferences): all domestic and international travel is suspended (even for our non-clinical students)
School-sponsored social events
• Per CUIMC policy, non-essential gatherings will be canceled for at least the next 30 days. Though disappointing, as many of these gatherings are celebratory and we value social connectedness, in our role as healthcare providers and providers-in-training we have a responsibility to do our part in promoting health and safety.
Student learning
• Clinical settings: Students in clinical settings are not to participate in clinical care of patients suspected or known to have COVID. At NYP, in an effort to preserve the stock of sterile supplies, students may not be permitted to scrub into cases. This will vary service-by-service and students are to follow the guidance of their teams. Course, clerkship and elective directors are aware of these restrictions.
• Classroom learning: Students in the classroom (including the simulation center) are presently unaffected. The faculty is preparing contingency plans should classroom-based teaching be restricted or suspended that will involve distance learning using Zoom or an equivalent tool. Course directors will be in touch with specific plans if these plans are put into action.
We will continue to update you as the situation evolves and encourage you to be in touch with us, with your advisory deans, and with the Center for Student Wellness with questions and concerns.
Jonathan Amiel and Lisa Mellman
Interim Co-Vice Deans for Education
Mar 5 Message to Students - COVID-19 Updates: The Science to Date
Dear VP&S Students,
This presentation includes information on the virology, clinical presentation, epidemiology, and potential opportunities for treatment and prevention of COVID-19. We include additional resources that may be of interest at the end of this email.
As healthcare providers, our priority is to improve the health of our patients and our communities. We have found that understanding the facts of the epidemic as they emerge has been helpful. We hope you find the presentation as informative as we did and that you share in our pride in and gratitude for these members of our academic community.
Warmly,
Rachel Gordon
Director of Curricular Innovation and Strategic Initiatives
Jonathan Amiel and Lisa Mellman
Interim Co-Vice Deans for Education
Additional Resources (thank you Ana Getselman!)
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Jonathan Amiel
Interim Co-Vice Dean for Education
Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons
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