Medical Students’ Commitment during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: Preparedness, Motivation, and Impact on Students’ Skills

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p><jats:bold>Background</jats:bold>: During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, many authors have suggested a commitment of medical students to support overworked health care staff. However, whether the students are prepared for such an occupation remains unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate medical students’ preparedness for a commitment in the pandemic and to assess the impact on their skills and attitudes.<jats:bold>Methods</jats:bold>: In April 2020, the CoronaPreventMainz (CPM) study was initiated to test 3300 employees with direct patient contact at the University Medical Center Mainz. To accomplish the huge logistic effort, medical students were recruited as support staff.Using a web-based questionnaire, the participating students were asked 27 questions covering six different topics.<jats:bold>Results</jats:bold>: Of the 75 recruited students, 63 (84.0%) participated in this survey. The median age was 24 years, and 66.6% (n = 42) were female. The vast majority agreed that students should be used as voluntary helpers during this crisis (87.3%) and had the feeling of contributing in the fight against the pandemic (90.5%). Most of the students (80.6%) even reported an improvement in their practical skills. Fear of self-infection was low (7.9%), and overextending situations occurred for just 3.2%. However, less than one-fifth (19.4%) of the students felt prepared for the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic by medical school, and two-thirds (67.7%) demanded special preparation. <jats:bold>Conclusion</jats:bold>: Through their commitment, the medical students felt that they were taking part in the fight against the pandemic. However, only a few felt well-prepared by medical school and the students’ need for special preparation courses is huge. Therefore, single-center initiatives can only be the beginning. Dedicated courses on how to support health care staff in natural disasters should be integrated into the medical curriculum to better prepare medical students for the next crisis.</jats:p>

Student Volunteering as a Solution for Undergraduate Health Professions Education: Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Among similar projects carried out globally in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we found one whose participants were asked to assess safety of their service. 74.6% of the 65 medical students who were involved in testing healthcare employees through the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany, felt well-protected during service, although only 12.19% felt well-prepared for their tasks ( 16 ). In our study, students' perceptions on safety sometimes differed from what was guaranteed to them under their contracts with beneficiary institutions.…”

“…The majority of our participants reported learning new skills, and so did participants of other COVID-19 SVPs. The participants of the Mainz study noticed the positive impact of volunteering: 68.3% said they had learned new skills, and 81.0% said they had improved their existing skills due to the commitment ( 16 ). More specific questions about skills were asked to medical student volunteers from the Reno School of Medicine, USA, who staffed a COVID-19 hotline for rural communities.…”

“…The majority of our participants reported learning new skills, and so did participants of other COVID-19 SVPs. The participants of the Mainz study noticed the positive impact of volunteering: 68.3% said they had learned new skills, and 81.0% said they had improved their existing skills due to the commitment (16).…”

“…One of them was using SV to support health systems overburdened by responding to COVID-19 (7,8). It turned out to be a good solution to staff shortages during the crisis (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22).…”

Medical students’ engagement in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: The influence of psychological factors on readiness to volunteer

“…The only evident tendency is that anxiety played some role with regard to COVID-19. Although anxiety in the population has increased due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic [ 28 ], medical students surveyed reported low levels of anxiety about SARS-CoV-2 infection [ 33 ]. On the other hand, our results show that the students’ fear of infecting people in their environment is significantly higher (cf.…”