Strange times: breathtaking experiences

By Mehtaab Singh Johal and Laila Danesh, medical students at King’s College, London, Dr Koravangattu Valsraj, Consultant Psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

The past nine months have been incredibly stressful for people and communities all over the world, especially for healthcare professionals. As medical students, we are required to learn all we can during our time at medical school, to become the best doctors possible. But Covid has disrupted many aspects of our medical education, including our ability to take up clinical placements. The first national lockdown in England saw medical students remaining at home and all teaching moving online. After the summer, medical school placements were allowed to resume, albeit in a reduced sense to cut down the infection risk to patients and to ourselves. The stress and strain from trying to learn during Covid seemed to diminish once we started placements.

However, one of our cohort tested Covid positive and had to quarantine, and our consultant had to go into self-isolation at the same time. This left the clinical partner alone in the placement with the key support systems missing.

To make matters worse, everyone in the group of six - all of us young students – tested positive and had to go into quarantine, but despite following all precautions, one student also infected their mother with the virus.

The sense of guilt among those of us who felt ‘responsible’ for passing on the infection was striking. This was a real issue for the individual who first tested positive in the group of six and for the student who passed it on to their mother. Despite being young and fit, all of us felt the post-Covid fatigue which was a further concern.

Meanwhile, our consultant was already grappling with the ‘unknown unknowns’ of the virus, both personally and professionally. In the midst of all this, the consultant offered us the best teaching experience, exceptional learning outcomes and high-quality reflections. The kindness towards, as well as the understanding and care of, patients and their families, was inspiring.

In the end, everything turned out well. The placement was a fulfilling experience and everyone in the group was able to achieve all the competencies through a mix of online and face to face sessions, with traditional bedside teaching. But we were also able to reflect on the unpredictability, uncertainty, sense of guilt on becoming Covid positive and infectious and the reliance on screen time to allow us to soldier on. We saw real humanity in the people around us and through the support we offered and received from each other. Compassion and care got us through this tough phase, and this is what medicine and medical care is all about.