Youngest and brightest head to epidemic war zone
As the coronavirus epidemic puts the NHS under massive pressure, medical students take up posts early to support those on the frontline,
HUNDREDS of graduate doctors and 2,000 student nurses are lending their support in the fight against coronavirus and joining hospital wards across Scotland to help key staff.
They include 200 newly qualified University of Edinburgh graduates who will have the opportunity to join the NHS workforce sooner than they would have anticipated, as part of the UK’S response to the epidemic.
The scale of the crisis, and the pressure it is placing on the NHS, prompted many medical schools, including Edinburgh, to speed up the graduation process.
More than100 medical students from the University of Dundee have opted to graduate early and register with the General Medical Council so they can start work immediately.
Meanwhile, more than 2,000 student nurses have volunteered to support the coronavirus response, Scotland’s
Chief Nursing Officer Fiona Mcqueen has said.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “We are asking a lot of nursing and midwifery students to step up at this unprecedented time when they have already experienced significant disruption as they come to the end of their courses.
“Their skills and experience will be vital in the coming months as we work to save as many lives as possible.”
The University of Edinburgh said its accelerated registration process is allowing the new graduates to join the NHS early as Foundation Year doctors, if they choose. New starts, who will be paid, will be deployed in a variety of ways across the NHS.
Professor Moira Whyte, head of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, said: “It is a source of great pride to the University of Edinburgh that our excellent and committed group of final year medical students will be graduating earlier than expected. Many of them will be joining the NHS sooner than they might have anticipated and volunteering their services to society during these challenging times.”
Professor David Kluth, director of Undergraduate Medical Teaching at the University of Edinburgh, said they had been working on plans for the past week to enable their students to help support the NHS.
Mr Kluth said: “Many students have already expressed a desire to help. They are keen to do what they studied and trained six years for. I know my clinical colleagues will welcome their help and we will ensure they have all the support they need over the coming weeks. We are lucky to have such talented doctors who can step up in this way.”
At the University of Dundee final year students would usually have a ceremony in June but instead the process has been accelerated to help with the crisis.
One graduate said they are as ready as they will ever be to start work as doctors.
Emma Box, 24, said: “Starting work as a doctor is always going to be daunting.
“For the many new graduates joining the NHS workforce, the biggest difference is the uncertainty that has come with this.
“It’s easiest just to take it one day at a time and wait for the governing bodies to let us know if and when we can help.”
The young medic, from Linlithgow, West Lothian, said: “I think it’s important for everyone, my fellow medical students as well as the general public, to remember that we’re as ready as we’ll ever be to start work as doctors.
“They’re not recruiting people who aren’t quite qualified, it’s just about speeding up the official processing to allow people who have completed their training to start work slightly sooner than usual. This is what we’ve trained for, and we’re as ready as we can be.”
Her colleague, Rachael Long, 24, described the situation as “surreal”.
Ms Long, from Glasgow, added: “We’ve been invited to apply to start work early, but we don’t know how soon that’s going to happen, where exactly we’ll be asked to work or what’s going to be expected of us, but hopefully that all becomes clear soon.
“It’s a daunting prospect that hasn’t really sunk in yet, but we’ve had five years of training to prepare so we should be in a good position to help when we’re needed.”
Professor Rory Mccrimmon, Dean of the School of Medicine at Dundee, said the NHS is facing a crisis like we have never seen, and it requires as much help as we can muster.
He said: “We will look to give them a full celebration of their achievements when such events can be arranged again. But for the moment their help may be needed urgently and they are now in position to do that as qualified doctors. I am confident they will make a real contribution to the NHS during this crisis.”
Ms Mcqueen paid tribute to the “compassionate care and professionalism” of the 2,000 student nurses who have volunteered for NHS Scotland, with the majority starting work this week.
Speaking at the Government’s press briefing in Edinburgh, Ms Mcqueen said there had been an “amazing response” to calls for student nurses, with universities organising for them to graduate early so they can be qualified to take part in the emergency efforts.
Ms Mcqueen added: “Our regulator, our universities across Scotland and our NHS boards have all worked together tirelessly to make sure that our senior students at the end of their education can join our NHS workforce.
“We’ve had an amazing response from our third and fourth-year students who have offered to step up and come into our health service ahead of when they graduate so they can be part of the workforce and help what is an incredible response for patients.”
In Glasgow more than 500 third-year students from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) have begun their inductions with health boards across Scotland.
It follows a call from the Scottish Government for student nurses to lend their support to the NHS early.
The final year students are working at hospitals across the country, including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Golden Jubilee National Hospital, NHS Dumfries and Galloway and NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
In an open letter last week to finalyear allied health professional students, Carolyn Mcdonald, chief allied health professions officer, called on students to “agree to become part of your local health and social care workforce”.
Professor Jacqueline Mccallum, head of GCU’S department of nursing and community health, said: “We are incredibly proud of all our 500-plus third-year students who have started their paid placements with the NHS at this critical time.”
We are lucky to have such talented doctors who can step up in this way