Medical student inclusion and teaching in the COVID-19 pandemic emergency

Background
During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic all educational activities in Denmark were suspended by the Danish Government.
Department of Clinical Medicine at Aalborg University Denmark chose an approach allowing the medical students to
take part in the preparations for the emerging pandemic crisis. The purpose of the study was to report the recruitment of
the students.
Experiment
A course program was set up within 48 hours to train students to be able to work as nursing assistants and ventilator
therapy assistants, and to employ final year students as temporary residents. We shifted teaching to a digital platform
allowing students to follow planned learning activities while participating in the clinical work. 454 Medical bachelor
students, and 257 Medical Master Students participated.
Within two weeks, 95% of master's students volunteered, and 62 % were active in the pandemic emergency as
temporary residents (50 %), ventilator therapy assistants (30 %), or nursing assistants (20 %). More than 72 % of
bachelor students volunteered within one week, and 31 % were temporary nursing assistants in the pandemic
emergency.
Conclusion
The majority of medical students could be recruited with very short notice to meet the critical shortage and call for
healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was supported by alignment with and reflection on the
undergraduate medical curriculum, which prevented suspending education when delayed medical education may be
detrimental.