Below is the email sent to our students at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University regarding COVID-19:
Dear AMS Students,
As you all are aware, COVID-19 is now in Rhode Island. We have been monitoring the situation carefully and reviewing the recommendations by the Rhode Island Department of Health. A number of you have reached out to us for additional information, and we are providing the following guidelines during this time:
- Medical students should continue to report for their hospital rotations at assigned sites, but you should not provide direct care to patients with presumptive or confirmed COVID-19. These patients will have been identified by the hospital in which you are rotating, and will be appropriately isolated. The reasons you should not care for these patients relates not just to minimizing exposure to you, but also the need for availability of Personal Protective Equipment for healthcare providers who must provide direct patient care. I recognize that it is influenza season and there may be a number of patients presenting with respiratory illnesses; however, these patients will often be identified with other etiologies for their clinical presentation.
- In outpatient settings, patients will present with respiratory illnesses that are not yet diagnosed and should be appropriately triaged, such that students should not be involved in their care if there is a suspicion of infection with COVID-19 or if there is uncertainty as to the diagnosis.
- All international electives are canceled, effective immediately. I recognize that a number of you have recently contacted me about these rotations and I did give you permission to go, but that is no longer the case. Please explore the possibility of reimbursement for any costs that you have already paid. If you are not reimbursed, provide receipts to me and the medical school will reimburse you. Contact Dr. George if you need assistance is scheduling alternative rotations.
- For students who are currently on international electives or have or will be traveling and returning to the United States, we will be following the recommendations put out by Brown University as follows: (1) anyone who travels to areas with widespread transmission (China, Iran, Italy, Japan, or South Korea as of today) or had contact with a confirmed diagnosis and who is symptomatic must self-isolate and contact Health Services (students) or their health care provider before returning to campus (this is the current CDC guidance); and (2) anyone who has traveled or had contact regardless of having symptoms must self-monitor and call Health Services or their provider before returning to campus (this goes beyond CDC guidance). Therefore, if you are returning from any countries with high numbers of cases (i.e., China, Japan, South Korea, Italy and Iran), you should stay at home and not report for any clinical duties in a hospital setting or outpatient site, and you should not come to the medical school campus until after 14 days and with no symptoms. Please note that this is a rapidly evolving situation, such that it is likely that other countries will be added to the list. If you are traveling back from other countries with cases, but not those with high numbers, it may be prudent for you to remain at home for 14 days while this situation is ongoing. Contact Dr. George if this impacts any of your rotations.
- With regards to general travel inside and outside of the United States, this is a personal decision and I encourage you to follow recommendations from the CDC.
- We are in the process of examining whether certain conferences or gatherings at the medical school and outside of the medical school may be modified. As of today, we have not made any decisions, but will keep you informed as the situation evolves.
I will also let you know that we are in the process of contacting other medical schools to learn what they are doing in response to COVID-19.
In addition, I am forwarding you the link to the
University's webpage and I encourage you to consult it on an ongoing basis for general information about University-wide preparedness. They will soon convert that link to a full website to house updates.
If your family or significant others are contacting you with questions, feel free to share this message with them.
Please contact me, Dr. George, or Dr. Vrees with any questions or concerns.
Allan Tunkel
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Allan Tunkel
Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education
Warren Alpert Medical School
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