Accelerated Graduation and the Deployment of New Physicians During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors
Flotte, Terence R.Larkin, Anne C.
Fischer, Melissa A.
Chimienti, Sonia N.
DeMarco, Deborah M.
Fan, Pang-Yen
Collins, Michael F.
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Population and Quantitative Health SciencesDepartment of Medicine
Department of Surgery
School of Medicine
Department of Pediatrics
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2020-06-09Keywords
COVID-19pandemic
University of Massachusetts Medical School
medical students
early graduation
Health and Medical Administration
Health Services Administration
Infectious Disease
Medical Education
Virus Diseases
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges and opportunities for medical schools in the United States. In this Invited Commentary, the authors describe a unique collaboration between the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), the only public medical school in the state; the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center (UMMMC); and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Through this partnership, UMMS was able to graduate fourth-year medical students 2 months early and deploy them to UMMMC to care for patients and alleviate workforce shortages during the COVID-19 surge, which peaked in Massachusetts in April 2020. The authors describe how they determined if students had fulfilled graduation requirements to graduate early, what commencement and the accompanying awards ceremony looked like this year as virtual events, the special emergency 90-day limited license these new graduates were given to practice at UMMMC during this time, and the impact these new physicians had in the hospital allowing residents and attendings to be redeployed to care for COVID-19 patients.Source
Flotte TR, Larkin AC, Fischer MA, Chimienti SN, DeMarco DM, Fan PY, Collins MF. Accelerated Graduation and the Deployment of New Physicians During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Acad Med. 2020 Jun 9. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000003540. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32520751. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1097/ACM.0000000000003540Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/27597PubMed ID
32520751Related Resources
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1097/ACM.0000000000003540