Griswold Andrew R, Klein Julia, Dusaj Neville, Zhu Jeff, Keeler Allegra, Abramson Erika L, Gurvitch Dana
Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Jun 30;10(7):1058. doi: 10.3390/vaccines10071058.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major educational disruptions, it has also catalyzed innovation in service-learning as a real-time response to pandemic-related problems. The limited number of qualified providers was primed to restrict SARS-CoV-2 vaccination efforts. Thus, New York State temporarily allowed healthcare professional trainees to vaccinate, enabling medical students to support an overwhelmed healthcare system and contribute to the public health crisis. Here, we describe a service-learning vaccination program directed towards underserved communities. A faculty-led curriculum prepared medical students to communicate with patients about COVID-19 vaccines and to administer intramuscular injections. Qualified students were deployed to public vaccination clinics located in under-served neighborhoods in collaboration with an established community partner. Throughout the program, 128 students worked at 103 local events, helping to administer 26,889 vaccine doses. Analysis of a retrospective survey administered to participants revealed the program taught fundamental clinical skills and was a transformative service-learning experience. As new virus variants emerge and nations battle recurrent waves of infection, the need for effective vaccination plans continues to grow. The program described here offers a novel framework that academic medical centers could adapt to increase vaccine access in their local community and provide students with a uniquely meaningful educational experience.
虽然新冠疫情造成了重大的教育中断，但它也催化了服务学习方面的创新，作为对与疫情相关问题的实时应对。合格提供者数量有限，这原本会限制新冠病毒疫苗接种工作。因此，纽约州临时允许医疗专业学员进行疫苗接种，使医学生能够支持不堪重负的医疗系统，并为公共卫生危机做出贡献。在此，我们描述了一个针对服务不足社区的服务学习疫苗接种项目。一个由教师主导的课程让医学生做好准备，以便与患者就新冠疫苗进行沟通并进行肌肉注射。合格的学生与一个既定的社区合作伙伴合作，被部署到位于服务不足社区的公共疫苗接种诊所。在整个项目中，128名学生参与了103场当地活动，帮助接种了26,889剂疫苗。对参与者进行的回顾性调查分析显示，该项目教授了基本临床技能，是一次具有变革性的服务学习经历。随着新的病毒变种出现，各国应对反复出现的感染浪潮，对有效疫苗接种计划的需求持续增长。这里描述的项目提供了一个新颖的框架，学术医疗中心可以加以调整，以增加当地社区的疫苗可及性，并为学生提供独特而有意义的教育体验。
