Preparing to help: response strategy of schools of medicine and health sciences to COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The pandemic declared by the World Health Organization impacts multiple economic and social sectors, including health care services and higher education. Especially, the Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences are struggling with the duality of training socially responsible healthcare professionals, protecting their physical and emotional integrity, and contributing to the vulnerable scenarios. Faculty members face an imminent increase in health care needs for infected patients according to the estimates of experts and authorities, resulting in and high risk and saturation of work.
This document proposes a guideline as an action plan to face the expansion of COVID-19. First, the Protection and Safety of the educational community should be privileged by suspending clinical training activity whit the purpose of training. Secondly, Academic continuity should be performed with distance education, considering stages of preparation, design, implementation, and evaluation. It is imperative an intensive use of technology, digital resources, and application of virtual simulation scenarios. A third component is the Communication and emotional follow-up of the academic community to mitigate the anxiety, uncertainty, and loneliness for students, teachers, parents, and support staff. Finally, the Response and social responsibility is part of the Medical and Health Sciences mission. Health professionals can contribute to the education, prevention, and support of people impacted by the pandemic situation. Students learn new competencies during this process. The conclusion relates to the opportunity to reconcile through unique approaches the clinical work and the need for support for this new reality.