Jillian Schneider, fourth-year MD student behind a volunteer initiative that pairs MD students with front-line health-care workers for child care.
Photo: Supplied
Fourth-year MD student Jillian Schneider organized an initiative in early March to pair MD student volunteers with front-line health-care providers for child care, after the province announced an indefinite closure of Alberta schools to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
More than 150 doctors and health-care workers signed up for the service, offered by third- and fourth-year students temporarily pulled from clinical rotations.
Going virtual, on the fly
When the coronavirus was declared a pandemic in early March, MD program leaders decided to find a different way to conduct what would normally be in-person Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs).
Determining the safest way to proceed was online, within 48 hours the dean's office and medical education team chose a cloud-based video-conferencing system and worked with the MedIT department to handle licensing and prepare for the successful remote interviews of 528 applicants.
The weekend was such a success that leaders are considering how they might use it in future to help reduce the cost of having to fly all over the country for interviews or for applicants in remote areas.