<p>Medical Students’ Response to: Willingness and Self-Perceived Competence of Final-Year Medical Students to Work as Part of the Healthcare Workforce During the COVID-19 Pandemic [Letter]</p>

Abstract

We read with great interest the article published by AlSaif et al 1 investigating the relationship between the willingness of final-year medical students to participate in the response towards COVID-19, and their perceived clinical competence. The pandemic has resulted in significant staff shortages requiring the help of volunteers to compensate for professionals lost to the outbreak. 2 Therefore, this article comes at a critical time to allow for a better understanding of the influences that would impact final-year medical students' willingness to contribute to the response. Although the authors have attempted to correlate perceived clinical competence and willingness to volunteer during the pandemic, the questionnaire used address general competencies, rather than ones that are relevant to the COVID-19 response. These general competencies encompass a wide array of skills that are not necessarily needed, or expected, from a volunteering student. For example, the authors ask about the perceived competence in "essential clinical procedures" which can vary from complex intubation to simple venepuncture. As medical students, we would expect the questionnaire to include specific tasks required, eg performing nasopharyngeal swabs, to successfully judge our competence. The questionnaire also includes skills that are unlikely to be needed, such as "select and apply the most appropriate and cost-effective diagnostic procedures" which would generally be expected from senior doctors rather than the students. The general nature of the questions has therefore likely influenced the results of the study, providing an inaccurate reflection about the true willingness of students to help during large-scale outbreaks. Various studies such as that of Miller et al 3 demonstrate that volunteering students were asked to perform simpler tasks, and often non-COVID-19 related, such as routine outpatient clinical care, hosting PPE drives and calling patients with lab results. These tasks although play a critical role in patients' outcomes and ease the stress of healthcare systems, they do not require extensive expertise, nor do they pose a high risk of COVID-19 transmission. Therefore, it would be more appropriate for the questionnaires to include such tasks when assessing for willingness.

Willingness of Healthcare Students in Vietnam to Volunteer During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Crucially, the findings include the motivating factors and barriers influencing their decision to volunteer or not, as well as the associations of willingness with socio-demographic and health-related characteristics of the students and their previous volunteering and training experiences. Although numerous reports have explored student volunteer work [ 11 , 14 – 17 , 21 ], the specific aspect of student willingness has not yet been explored in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam. As such, this report contributes novel findings to the current understanding of the volunteer workforce in Vietnam, and provides vital context to policy-makers making decisions during the COVID-19 emergency.…”

“…To maximize the benefit to the Vietnamese people, these students must be adequately trained and, more importantly, willing to be involved [ 20 ]. The willingness of healthcare students to volunteer is dependent on several factors, including, but not limited to, availability of time, knowledge, expertise, previous experience and training, fear of COVID-19, and the accessibility of personal protective equipment (PPE) [ 11 , 14 – 17 , 21 ]. To date, no previous research has investigated the willingness of Vietnamese healthcare students to volunteer during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”