UAB Department of Surgery Assistant Professor, Director of the Medical Student Surgery Clerkship program and recently-named UAB General Surgery Residency Program Director Britney Corey, M.D., FACS shares her appreciation to all who answered the call to conduct online lectures and learning opportunities for students in the Medical Student Surgery Clerkship program.
Typically, the Birmingham Surgery clerkship is an eight-week rotation, and students spend four weeks on a general surgery service, as well as four weeks completing two electives in sub-specialty surgery.
Students had just begun their third week of rotation when UAB School of Medicine announced that students would not continue in-person rotations in order to minimize their exposure to COVID-19. UAB School of Medicine reached out to clerkship directors across campuses to transition to online learning, with the hope that programs could provide at least two hours of educational content each day. The Birmingham campus agreed to coordinate the learning for the Surgery clerkship across all four campuses– Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery and Huntsville.
Within 3 days of onsite clerkships ending, online lectures had started, due in large part to the overwhelming volunteer response from the Department of Surgery faculty, staff and residents. The clerkship was able to leverage a robust, didactic curriculum and many new lecturers joined in to develop approximately 36 lectures, averaging about two hours of educational content a day. Below is a listing of lectures and the individuals who said “yes” to the call.
Most lectures were in standard Zoom and PowerPoint format, but some harnessed break-out rooms, white boards and even joint sessions. In addition, students were provided resources to study and follow up on, in order to bolster as much of the educational aspect of the clerkship as possible given the circumstances. Some of these resources included multiple choice questions, independent studies online, case scenarios and watching assigned videoed surgeries.
Third-year UAB Medical Student Morgen Owens said that although she was excited for the hands-on experience that makes up MS3 year and truly missed being in the OR, she was thankful to still be learning in any capacity.
“The process was fairly smooth and quicker than I anticipated. I was surprised that attendings and residents were so open to making time in their schedules for these lectures, even sharing tidbits about adjusting to new protocols in the hospital,” said Owens. “I can't wait to be back in the hospital, but I think the Department of Surgery did a great job making sure that we did not fall behind.”
Third-year UAB Medical Student and Student Senate Vice President Graham Kirchner said that the experience opened doors into new perspectives that ended up being much more beneficial than students had originally imagined. Graham highlighted incoming General Surgery Chief Resident Gregory Martens, M.D., and a session that Martens hosted with students where he invited students to observe resident team dynamics.
“I thought that some of the most impactful time we spent on Zoom was when the residents called us in the middle of their work day to ‘run the list’ of patients with us and explain what they were thinking and how they would be caring for these individuals even in the middle of the pandemic,” said Kirchner. “They treated us just as if we were part of the care team and allowed us a glimpse into their day-to-day life.”
“It is pretty incredible that there were more volunteers than available time,” says Corey. “A special thanks to all who were available, especially those who do not routinely give lectures.”
Third-year medical students will still owe two weeks of onsite rotations as they have to receive an incomplete grade for onsite rotations. Once clerkships resume, the clerkship will make some adjustments to be able to complete the missed “hands on” time.