September 11, 2020 Student FAQ Updates

Message originally sent September 11, 2020

Take care everyone and stay safe with your families and friends (remember your mask, physical distancing, hand washing and don’t share food/drink)

  • September 11, 2020 - SSOM administration updates and recent student FAQs below
  • COVID-19 updates - No new updates, but an ther has been an updated Chicago Travel Order.
  • Updated PPE Guidebook Document (FYI only – everything you wanted to know about PPE)
  • Cuneo building access updates – Beginning September 14th, Monday, piloting of student access to the buildings for individual study will begin – See the separate email from Dean Mendez (there is a process and you will need to request space in order for us to ensure adequate physical distancing and monitoring)

Recent Student FAQs

What in-person activities (i.e. OSCEs, PCM2 small groups, and/or MHD/Pharm small groups) will be required starting on October 12, and when will they be?

As mentioned in the update, could we have more information on how students can individually work with administration to address delay of return due to safety concerns?

Our pre-COVID pandemic plans for your M1 and M2 curriculum, was multifaceted but included: moving most large group sessions to an online format (accepting student preference for virtual attendance and acknowledging our educators who were disheartened by empty lecture halls), enhance our small group sessions (either faculty or student led), provide further support and implement additional co-curricular activities (new electives, student special interest groups, shadowing/mentoring opportunities, global health and community activities and programs, immersion events, ministry and other programmatic events, etc.) and finally continue to prepare and facilitate your early student entry into the clinical setting. All of this was meant to enhance our SSOM community and a learning environment that was safe, rigorous and in a school that has always been known to be incredibly supportive of their students. Well guess what, SARS-CoV-2 happened!

To address all the regulatory and organizational guidelines, we modified our curriculum so it would allow progression of students in their pre-clinical and clinical education, but within a healthcare system that had to first prioritize patient care. Only when that clinical environment “normalized” would we allow our students to return to clinical clerkships and our M3 & M4 students were successfully reintegrated into their clinical clerkships on schedule (July 6th) and that environment continues to be monitored.

So, with that background and before we discuss a “return” to campus date, there is a need for you to accept the reality that sooner or later everyone needs to be back “on campus” as not everything can be online, simulated or learned within a stream of photons. In March 2020 when SARS-CoV-2 became the COVID-19 pandemic, we projected our “return to campus date” for the M1 and M2 students to be October 12th or the Monday after the typical fall M1 and M2 school break. However, our one consistent principle in establishing any return date, was to first ensure student safety within a healthcare environment where a lot of your education is being directed, and for us to be prepared to change, often, and within a short timeline and notification.

In preparation for students coming back we began to re-open the school, following all regulatory and safety requirements and next week student use of study space within the buildings will start. We have been reviewing the methods we chose to deliver lecture content, small group, and clinical skill training, determining what works and why. It is very unlikely that we will return to any large group, onsite, lecture format, for reasons stated above, so online delivery will increasingly be our chosen educational model for delivery of that content. The small groups will likely continue in their own online format as will exams, for now. The clinical skill groups (PCM 1 and 2) are considering various pilots as to how their face-to-face activities, whether SP related, or hospital can begin and be ramped up and we are also working to reinitiate physician shadowing or mentorship opportunities. The other programs led by our groups in Global Health, Ministry, ODEI, student groups and other non-clinical electives are also making plans as to how to reinitiate their activities.

Now the question you have been waiting for, “If I am out of state do, I need to come back on October 12th or can I come back later”? With all the changes going on in the country, healthcare, and more personal circumstances, we will not be fully “operational” on the October 12th date, but we will have started up and pilots will be underway. With all of that background, these unique circumstances and the fact that we can make no definite promises, you will need to decide your return date based on what supports your own wellness, family related concerns, financial issues, etc. However, we will continue with our plans and the October start date so, seek the balance between your return and your own fear of missing out (FOMA) to plan your move. As always, we will keep everyone up to date as activities begin and when we get back to our original plans for your education and are fully “operational”.

Potential for accommodations for Thanksgiving/Christmas breaks so that OOS students can visit their families safely while continuing their education in the existing online format for the time- being.

Once again, if you travel to and stay in a state that Chicago has listed as requiring quarantine on return, then self-quarantine is what you need to do. Within these identified states, based on the number of COVID cases being recorded, your chance of being exposed is higher, even with PPE and that is the risk that you return with. Depending on what is scheduled within our curriculum at that time, there may be no significant disruption in your education. However, the need to quarantine should be taken seriously as you would have the potential to expose other students, standardized patients or within the hospital, patients, residents, faculty, etc. So, if you were to become infected, all these students and clinical faculty would need to quarantine, not to mention others you contacted within the school.

As a healthcare provider you are becoming an essential person, and this comes with more responsibilities and less latitude. If you decide to travel any way, then that is an outcome that you will need to accept and potential implications.

Can the SHB exam be delayed as some of us are moving back to campus over the fall break?

Our curriculum committee discussed this once again with the Course Director and based on their reiterating the class vote for not changing the date (60% for, 40% opposed) and the fact that they have 3 lectures and a quiz scheduled for the Friday before break, they have requested that the date not be moved and it will stay on October 12th. They recommend that everyone keep up with the material and for those who do well on the quiz, should do well on the exam with limited study over break. (Historically It is the least challenging of all their SHB exams.)

If you are moving over the Spring break and feel this will be a significant disrupter for you, please contact the Office of Student Affairs to describe your situation and an alternate testing date for you can be discussed.