NHS Nightingale North West: A Medical Student on the Front Lines

Authors

  • Lewis Holt 4th Year Medical Student

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/ijms.2020.640

Keywords:

COVID-19, Pandemic, Field Hospital, NHS

Abstract

Seemingly overnight, on the 12th of March 2020, healthcare systems the world over changed as the World Health Organisation deemed COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic. I was moved directly into the fourth year of my medical studies without examination, and applied to work in one of the few field hospitals set up across the United Kingdom, designed to handle to worst case scenario of COVID-19. Here I tended to the most basic needs of patients as a care support worker and witness first hand the relentlessness of this awful disease.  Being able to help and work in a role I was not familiar with has given me great insight into the needs of patient’s whether they are going home or in their final days of life.  As the pandemic cools down and the incidence curve flattens, we have all been put on standby, hopefully not to be required again.

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References

Nightingale F, McDonald L. The collected works of Florence Nightingale. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press; 2010.

WHO announces COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. Euro.who.int. 2020, Available from: https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus-covid-19/news/news/2020/3/who-announces-covid-19-outbreak-a-pandemic. Last updated: Mar 12 2020; cited 22 June 2020.

O'Connor-Terry C, Gowda T, Zuchelkowski B, Minney S, Kwon J. Medical Students Have a Powerful Role in Addressing Community Needs in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Experience from the US. Int J Med Students. 2020 Jan-Apr;8(1):70-72.

National Health Supporters. National Health Supporters. 2020. Available from: https://www.nationalhealthsupporters.co.uk. Cited 2 July 2020.

Moberly T. From conference centre to hospital. BMJ. 2020 Mar 31;368:m1298.

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Published

2020-07-06

How to Cite

Holt, L. (2020). NHS Nightingale North West: A Medical Student on the Front Lines. International Journal of Medical Students, 8(2), 180–182. https://doi.org/10.5195/ijms.2020.640

Issue

Section

Experience

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