Central PA Medicine Winter 2021 - 20

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and history skills with standardized patients
hidden behind our masks and face shields.
Most of our patient interactions that would
have been in person now come via Zoom in
a telehealth style manner. For many of these
patient interactions now, I will throw on a
dress shirt and tie, put on my white coat, and
stay in my sweatpants and slippers.

Today, my classroom feels much different.
Currently, I am in Detroit writing this article
when I should be in a classroom in Hershey,
Pennsylvania. Most days, I roll out of bed to
my desk a few steps away, open my laptop,
and hop on Zoom for class usually wearing
whatever I wore to sleep. Gone are the days of
picking out outfits every morning that would
look professional enough to wear in front of
the various doctors I would see around the
hospitals and the patients I would pass in the
hallways. I lived in this monotony of learning
and developing my skills to become a doctor
remotely for the greater part of 2020 and,
despite its challenges, have come to realize
how this situation will serve myself and my
classmates in the future.
COVID-19 and virtual learning robbed
medical students of the patient interaction
that is so crucial to our early development as
doctors. As a second-year medical student, I was
fortunate to learn physical exam skills or learn
how to take a medical history on a standardized
patient. Every week we would have patient
interaction whether it was acting as patient
navigators in the hospital or outpatient setting,
having patients come to class to tell their unique
stories, caring for patients at a student run clinic,
or simply shadowing physicians whenever we
pleased. Since school has started back up in
August, due to safety concerns, we now only
get the rare opportunity to learn physical exam
20 Winter 2021 Central PA Medicine

COVID-19
and virtual
learning
robbed medical
students of
the patient
interaction
that is so

crucial to
our early
development
as doctors.

A mentor of mine once said, " Part of the
altruistic nature of medicine is the ability to
adjust our personal issues for the good of our
patients. " If virtual learning is the small price we
must pay in order to potentially keep patients
safe, we should embrace it without question.
Rather than dwelling on the educational
downsides of the pandemic, we can use this as
a learning opportunity to make improvements
to our medical education moving forward in
a number of ways. COVID-19 has drastically
accelerated the implementation of telehealth
visits across the healthcare system. Teaching
students how to properly conduct a visit via
telehealth will be a vital skill in the future
that many doctors have not been properly
trained to do. We have also learned about
the flexibility of learning that may take us
away from the traditional classroom setting.
Schools may offer lectures to be livestreamed,
with the option for students to watch live at
home and ask questions just as they would if
they were in class. Finally, it has taught us to
not take aspects of our education and human
interaction for granted. Medicine is a unique
profession where physical touch and the ability
to clearly display emotions is essential for
forming a bond with a patient to put their life
in your hands. I think it is clearer now more
than ever just how important those personal
interactions can be.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought
out a lot of good and bad characteristics in
us all, but one characteristic that I think has
united our country is resilience. It has shown
me that although a situation may be less than
ideal, plans changing from day to day, or lives
completely changed, we have the capability to
endure. This new era of medical school has
had its obstacles and adversity, but I believe
what makes students pursuing a career in
medicine unique is their uncanny ability to
adapt, improvise, and overcome any challenge
they face.
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Central PA Medicine Winter 2021

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