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COVID-19
PANDEMIC
A Medical Student’s

Perspective on the COVID-19

Self-Quarantine Experience

By Katelyn Franck

Spring is a uniquely challenging time for 2nd year medical stu-
dents like me. The majority of us are in “dedicated board prep”,
studying primarily on our own for USMLE Step 1 and COMLEX
Level 1. Many of us had already been doing “social distancing” to
some extent. Prior to writing this, I attempted to find articles on
“social distancing” and couldn’t find anything on its implications.
This is uncharted territory. We all hope this is effective in slowing
the disease spread. Maybe this will be a tool to be applied with future
disease outbreaks (to a lesser extent)?
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of nearly every-
one in the world and has created unique challenges for individuals.
Most likely, the stress or burden will be somewhat dependent on
the level of disruption this has caused to one’s daily life. Even
though my cohorts and me were planning to spend a lot of time
alone, we certainly did not expect it to look like this. Med students workers face. It demonstrates how important other professions are
rely on each other for support and it has been challenging not being in keeping society functioning, such as those that teach, sell gro-
able to see each other, to study in the library, or continue our regular ceries or whatever.
workout routines, among other things. This virus pandemic has also shed light on the fact that we need
Our school outlined a very specific number of weeks for us to to better educate patients on basic disease prevention, healthcare
exclusively study for boards based on data showing that, after a delivery and the complexity of vaccines/new medications.
given number of weeks, one’s performance starts to decline. Right It will lead to some changes for the better. I feel it has reinforced
now, we (UIWSOM students) have our exams scheduled for May, the importance of patients having a primary care provider (PCP).
so we are trying to find the balance of study vs. other pursuits. We It points out that patients need a doctor they know and trust and
don’t want to risk being underprepared, but we likewise don’t want who knows them as well because despite the healthcare needed to
to study really hard, have our exams moved back, and as a result treat the virus that plagues us now, acute, minor illnesses/ injuries
not perform well. that don’t require an emergency department (ED) visit obviously
Many of us medical students have struggled with feelings of help- still occur as well.
lessness. Naturally, we all want to be able to help right now; unfor- Many individuals are likely going to be needing mental health
tunately, we are not at that level of training yet. Even third-years treatment as they face these unique challenges. Both now, and when
have suspended rotations for now. As a result, many med students we eventually see the decline in COVID-19 cases, there are potential
across the country have been reaching out to physicians they per- opportunities to work on increasing mental health awareness and
sonally know to offer help and assistance in any way possible. hopefully further propel us in the direction of improving accessi-
Just as this pandemic has forced our healthcare system to be “cre- bility for mental health care. The BCMS LifeBridge program for
ative”, it has likewise forced the creativity of society in general to member physicians and their staff and families provides free coun-
come up with new ways of doing things. I see this as a positive, seling any time of day or night, from anywhere.
using things like home workouts, learning how to work more pro- Finally, in the spirit of improving healthcare, this as an opportunity
ductively at home, and finding new means to connect with friends to consider working toward additional major legislative changes. For
through technology. For med students, being forced to communi- me, this all just reinforces the importance of being an active advocate
cate with friends largely through social media may aid us in main- for change – both as a med student and as a future physician.
taining our friendships after med school is over, when we have all
gone our separate ways. Katelyn is a 2nd year medical student at University of the In-
Even with negatives that have been widely proclaimed about the carnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine and is from San An-
shortcomings of social media, its rise has been beneficial in educa- tonio. She is an active member of BCMS and this past year, served
tion; not only for dispersing COVID-19 facts, but also to shed light as the UIWSOM student representative to the BCMS board of
on some of the challenges that doctors, nurses and other healthcare directors.

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