Persevering Through COVID Isolation During Medical School

Profession: Medical Student

Submitted On: December 8th, 2020

Trigger Warnings: COVID-19

"I'm a 4th year medical student. Talking among my peers, we feel as if we are just drifting, with no objective in sight. We've all lost hundreds of hours of clinical hours before our school began limited in-person rotations, and many of us are unable to do away rotations to get to know the culture of the places we applied to for residency. We don't want to be known as the incompetent class of interns as we move forward into our careers. All of this uncertainty is weighing on all of us, and it's been difficult navigating all this amidst the pandemic. A few first and second years I help mentor also are struggling with zoom fatigue and keeping up with classes. Despite all of this, we have been doing our best to keep a positive mindset and stay in the game. We've held many zoom parties and socially distanced hangouts these past few months to keep connected. Our little network checks up on each other frequently. A couple of the second years have even told me that they study together on zoom, unmuting themselves during breaks to relax and talk. Even just having another person on the opposite side of the screen studying with you, without any communication, is a small form of human connection that we all desire. Perhaps we will be known as the class of resiliency after all this is done."

We appreciate the opportunity to share stories like these with our community, with the goal of destigmatizing the struggles faced within the medical field.