The number of cases in our health system are rapidly increasing and all hands are called to service. Our health system President and CEO along with our Dean charged me with returning 4th years to the hospital. I sent the following letter requesting engagement on a volunteer basis with clinical care. This went out at 8 am. Over the course of the day, I have received extremely positive emails from many of our students, but I have also had a relatively small number extraordinarily angry emails. As an aside, I have offered ACLS for students who are volunteering to work on the wards and, through this, I know that over 50 of our 179 graduates have opted to serve as sub-interns. I sent the email below under my signature alone so the students who are upset by my letter would possibly see the other assistant and associate Deans as advocates.
Stay safe and well,
Josh
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Dear Class of 2020,
We are living in extraordinary, highly dynamic times and we, as a community, are working around the clock to address COVID-19.
As many of you know, our clinical colleagues have been redeployed from the outpatient arena in response to the rising numbers of hospitalized patients. Additionally, our subspecialists are performing primary care, our elective surgeries have been postposed, and we are doubling our available hospital beds. An NIH sponsored remdesivir trial has also been launched, basic studies on antibodies and SARS-COV2 are intensifying, Einstein students are running COVID-19 diagnostics in the clinical laboratory, and you and your peers have begun to field calls at Montefiore's Occupational Health Service. That represents a tremendous amount of positive activity designed to combat a dire threat to our community.
But we can't overlook the fact that tremendous pressure and stress has been placed on our healthcare system. As a result, all-hands are now being called upon to aggressively meet the challenge of treating COVID-19 patients. Governor Cuomo has formally asked that all healthcare providers, including medical students, actively contribute to our campaign against COVID-19. Additionally, Dr. Philip O. Ozuah, President and CEO of Montefiore, and Dr. Gordon F. Tomaselli, Einstein's dean, have requested that our students play a major role in combatting the pandemic. Today, in other words, is different than yesterday and tomorrow we will bring many new challenges in delivering care to those most in need.
In two months, you will be graduating from Einstein and we are incredibly proud of your remarkable achievements. Although we stated that you are expected to return to resume clinical care on April 6th, our hospitals and community need you.
Therefore, we are asking each of you to let us know if you are willing to do one of the following:
- resume clinical work as a sub-intern with expanded responsibilities on a ward currently identified as low risk for working with COVID-19 infected patients;
- resume clinical work as a sub-intern with expanded responsibilities on a ward with COVID-19 infected patients; or
- work in an ancillary area, such as taking calls within Occupational Health and Safety, with no direct contact with patients.
For those of you who have yet to complete your sub-internships, options #1 and #2 will count towards your graduation requirements.
These policies and actions are consistent with and supported by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Liaison Committee for Medical Education.
We realize this news is likely startling and potentially anxiety provoking, but we working with Montefiore leadership to protect the health and safety of those of you who choose to work in a hospital setting. For example, our hospitals have assured us that each of our students will have appropriate personal protective equipment, you will be re-trained in their use, you will be supervised by appropriate faculty and that your safety- and that of all care providers-is paramount.
We are also absolutely confident that you are more than up to this task and will provide exceptional, compassionate care, as you have done so successfully to date.
To conclude, we ask you to please respond to the following poll by Thursday at 5pm to provide your availability and your choice for participating in this worthy effort: https://einsteinmed.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8360Ne9PDYiYkYd
We will be hosting a virtual Town Hall on Thursday at 2pm (details to follow) to further address this call to service and look forward to your joining us then.
Thank you,
Joshua D. Nosanchuk, MD, FACP, FIDSA, FAAM
Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education
Professor, Department of Medicine (Division of Infectious Diseases)
Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Attending Physician (Infectious Diseases)
Montefiore Medical Center
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Joshua Nosanchuk
Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education
ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
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