Page 17 - Morehouse School of Medicine Magazine

ABOVE condition and care twice a day—every and residents she oversees at Grady. MSM already had a general pan-
People entering and morning after doctors made rounds By mid-March, Dr. Wimberly said only demic response in its curriculum, she
exiting the main and again in the evening after nurses residents were allowed to participate said. “We instituted a weekly webinar
entrance at Grady
Memorial Hospital changed their shifts. in the Grady response. Students were series at the end of March, and,” she
at the height of the Whenever a patient was successfully reassigned for their safety. That also added, “we are developing a specific
COVID pandemic, weaned off a ventilator, Dr. Flenaugh limited foot traffic through the critical COVID-19 pandemic curriculum.” As
early summer 2020. took his cellphone to the patient’s bed- treatment areas. Several weeks later, Dr. the pandemic unfolds, Dr. Wimberly
side. Wimberly said, students returned to and her colleagues will be able to follow
“I’d go in with my phone and dial Grady but not to treat COVID patients. and incorporate literature specific to
up and let them talk to their family “We saw the numbers (of infections) COVID-19.
member,” he said. Those were “very were steady and declining, and we had To Dr. Flenaugh, MSM’s ongoing
emotional times for everybody” as the appropriate PPE available, so the stu- experience with COVID-19—even as
patients softly whispered their first dents came back,” Dr. Wimberly said. cases throughout Georgia spiked into
contact with family members in days “Students are doing patient care on the summer—will shape the medical
and weeks. non-COVID and non-OR procedures.” school for the future.
Dr. Wimberly, who is recognized for “There’s a lot that we’ve learned from
LEARNING DURING A PANDEMIC developing a cutting-edge medical cur- the experience, going forward, for edu-
For Dr. Yolanda Wimberly, MSM associ- riculum for the education of physicians, cating for the future,” he said. “It’s not
ate dean of clinical affairs, the pandemic said MSM is quickly integrating experi- going away.”
forced changes and challenges in the ence from the COVID-19 pandemic into
way she assigned the medical students what medical students learn.

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