COVID-19, which has taken the world by storm, is no joking matter. The seriousness of this issue shows through the unprecedented healthcare collapse in Italy, economic crash in the United States, and most-likely at a tertiary care center near you. The implications of a global pandemic are serious, and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives will be lost in the coming year. Beyond the tragic mortality, the virus has impacted everybody’s life in one way or another – including medical students interested in neurosurgery.
M1 – How to Make Use of Your Time
Luckily, first-year medical students are far enough removed from this virus that most implications towards your future application and career are mitigated. This time off from class can be used productively to build your CV. Neurosurgery has historically, and now more than ever, required a commitment to research. This is even more vital for many current first year medical students at institutions which require students to take the Step 1 examination after their third year. Given that for these individuals, Step 1 will be a pass-fail exam (more on this here), building a quality CV with numerous publications will weigh even more in the residency selection process.
Take the initiative to actively seek opportunities to publish. Speak to mentors, find case reports, nag the residents, and send emails to productive labs. Try to explore any possibilities that will allow for you to expand your publications and improve your CV. Neurosurgery is a field in which those who are hungry for more will rise to the top, so stay productive and go out of your way to seek opportunity.
Find Opportunities to Help the Local Community
On the other hand, as a rising medical-professional, you are entering the beautiful kinship that is medicine. This current strain of corona virus has only just started to impact the United States, and it will get a lot worse before it gets better. Find opportunities to help the local community, no matter how small. Some ways to take this initiative would be to write letters of appreciation to hospital staff, volunteer to make calls for the hospital remotely, start a drive to collect personal protective equipment from the community to donate to hospitals, start a fundraising campaign for those who have lost their jobs, volunteer to purchase groceries for the elderly, and the list goes on. The point is – you have the opportunity, ability, and time to make a genuine impact on the communities around you, so make the most of it.
M2 – Take this Time to Make Healthy Habits
Second year students, you just caught your big break! With perhaps the rest of the semester off, your dedicated just got that much longer. As of right now, Step 1 is still the key to the exclusive door to enter neurosurgery. Take this time to create a routine, make good habits, and spread out the material you need to cover. HOWEVER, do not try and study 12 hours-a-day as if this is truly a dedicated period – YOU WILL BURN OUT! One of my favorite quotes is from Abraham Lincoln: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Make sure if you take care of yourself first or you’ll never be able to chop down the massive redwood that is Step 1.
M3 – Weigh Your Options and Trust Your Mentors’ Judgement
The ones who are potentially hurt the most are the third-year medical students. At this point you have declared neurosurgery, started to get your chickens in line, completed most of your clinical rotations, and now you’re finding yourself with numerous conferences cancelled and away-rotations in limbo. Due to the clinical circumstances, programs around the country must take the proper safety precautions and unfortunately, that could potentially mean no Sub-I’s this year.
There’s nothing I can say to make this less nerve wracking. This is truly unprecedented and a time to lean on your mentors’ judgement. Trust what they have to say and continue to monitor the situation. They will give the best insight on whether you should still apply this cycle given the potential for a lack of letters from away institutions. If they deem the lack of away letters a significant weakness, consider taking a year off to do research. For students without a home institution, strong away-letters are perhaps the most crucial part of your application, strongly consider taking a research year.
Take Time Away From Clinic for Research
The silver lining is that all students are in the same boat and programs will have to understand the special circumstances which call for four letters from your home-institution. For now, RELAX – the situation is evolving week by week. Take the time away from clinic for research: finish up those papers in the pipeline, resubmit that one rejected paper elsewhere, and email both residents and attendings for any available projects.
Also, this time allows for the chance to finally catch up on life – get a travel credit card for next year, enroll in all of the hotel benefits, get TSA-precheck, renew your driver’s license, and make an appointment for a professional head shot for ERAS. There’s plenty of time for us to worry about the intricacies of what program directors might look for, but there’s also plenty of time to show them that we stayed productive (even when we didn’t have to). We’ll get through this together.
M4 – Take Your Time to Get Ready for the Next Seven Years
Congrats on matching!! I feel for everyone who had their match days remotely and couldn’t have the celebration we all look forward to. Now that most planes are grounded and you’re stuck at home, this can be time to not only finish up pending publications, but to prepare for the next seven years. Try to get some papers out, hone some new hobbies, brush up on your neuroanatomy, plan the move to where you have matched, and spend some quality time with your family.
Finally, in just a few months, you will be on the front lines of medicine. We have no idea how long this pandemic will drag on, so take this time to stay educated on the signs, symptoms, and current treatment guidelines for Covid-19. In an effort not to repeat myself, refer to the second paragraph under “M1” if you need any additional ideas for ways to help your local community.
At the end of the day, you worked incredibly hard to be where you are! Take this time – you deserve it.
Now I know how the med student is ploughing through these unchartered times. Good read. Good Luck.
Very good insight of what needs to be done by students in these unusual times, even though your article focuses on medical students, the examples you sighted are important to everyone , very well thank thought out article , liked the quote of Abraham Lincoln. Hope you can write more articles to motivate
Students.