One thing medics have is an appreciation of just how fragile life is, but I don't think I ever appreciated how delicate society, as a whole, could be. The COVID-19 pandemic has literally brought the world to a halt in the space of a couple of months. In early February I was one of the people saying that nothing would come of it. I'm just about old enough to remember SARS; then more recently there was swine flu and ebola. The outbreak of all of these diseases caused some degree of public hysteria, but they quickly passed, with life in the UK remaining pretty much the same. I'm one of those people that believes fire drills kill more people than they save. When I hear a fire alarm I automatically assume it's a test and I tend to complete whatever task I'm in the middle of before retreating to a safe place. There are countless stories of people perishing in office blocks because everyone ignored the alarms and continued working. I feel Corona virus almost caught us off guard in a similar way. In the western world most governments initially told us to continue with life as normal - "this will be like SARS, it will mainly affect China and it will pass." This was the line that I towed until a few weeks ago. Late February came around and I was still on my obstetrics and gynaecology placement, which I was absolutely loving. I was training three times a week for a charity boxing bout; certainly no social distancing going on there. My stress levels were beginning to rise ever so slightly at the thought of my impending final exams. Now I'm sat here on April fools' day and it's finally dawned on me that this isn't a prank. Placement has been cancelled, exams are postponed indefinitely and I certainly won't be donning my boxing gloves any time soon. I feel for our colleagues in the year above, who were due to be jetting off on their elective placements soon: The elective is a 2 month period at the end of med school where we are encouraged to travel abroad to have a taste of another health care system. It is often people's favourite part of the whole course, but this year all electives have been cancelled and the 5th years will be graduating early in a bid to plug holes on the 'front line'.
Life has completely altered for almost everyone and we are left with a lot of time to think. I have been thinking a lot about whether we tackled this virus in the right way. Even now I often wonder if mass isolation is really worth it. The former chief justice raised a valid point yesterday when he stated that the poverty caused by this total shutdown could kill 1000s in the long run. Then I wonder what's happening to all the patients currently missing their routine appointments. If someone with poorly controlled blood pressure doesn't get to see their GP for their medication review and subsequently dies from a stroke, will that class as a corona related death? But then on the other hand, what is the alternative? As doctors we treat people as and when they present to us. The fact is, thousands of patients are presenting to A&E in need of critical care due to this virus. No clinician would have the heart to tell those patients to stay at home and die quietly just so we can keep the country running. The measures we are taking now are not necessarily to stop the virus spreading, but rather to ensure it spreads at a rate that the health service can cope with. We will have to deal with the consequences of isolation once this crisis is under some kind of control. Indeed, as a nation we have a proud history of recovering from ruin. The NHS itself was created after the second world war and quickly provided jobs for 1000s, which helped get the country back on it's feet. Hopefully the creative amongst us are using their time at the moment to sculpt a post corona world that will be better for all. We finally have a widespread appreciation of who the key workers are in society and this is a once in a lifetime chance to create a world that is fairer for those people. I have really struggled with isolation. As an extrovert, I need a degree of human contact and I get quite down without that. I've been helping an elderly neighbour with her shopping, which has at least provided me with some purpose, but I did feel it was a waste for me to be predominantly sat at home. However, I've just found out that my local hospital have created positions for medical students, so at least I now have something to get me out of bed in the morning. The role involves taking bloods and performing various other tasks in A&E, then, as our skills develop, there will potentially be scope to undertake some of the jobs usually carried out by junior doctors. I'm hopeful that it may be an educational, as well as rewarding, experience. I will try and find time to write in the near future about how that is going, but until then, stay safe.
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AuthorMy name is Stephan. I'm a 23 year old medical student. I like to travel, play the odd game of rugby and I'm very vocal on formula 1 fan forums (yes I am a bit of a sports nerd). Archives
April 2021
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