The Medical Student Through A Webcam

Today on the Osmosis blog, medical student and OMEF Alexandra Sueldo reflects on the remote clerkships experience, and shares how she was still able to bond with patients and learn about herself in a remote, virtual environment.

As first-year medical students, we often try to imagine what future hospital visits will look like. 

Will I see a lot of patients? Will I know what I am talking about? Will I have enough knowledge to understand what is going on? 

As I look back on myself as a first-year student, these thoughts were terrifying yet exciting, all at the same time—but back then, it was just a dream to be able to be there. 

Here we are, in present time, and everything is much different from what we imagined. The world is still in distress. People are dying from COVID-19 that, in many places, still isn’t under control. As medical students, all we can do is put one foot in front of the other as we continue on with our medical school education. 

Online, of course. 

Our expectations are different than our patients

Expectations change. That’s not necessarily good or bad. Still, you prepare yourself for a different experience than those before you had. Some might even say that the novelty of it is exciting. 

Fast forward to the third virtual hospital visit of my fifth term. I’m sitting in my chair with my pen and paper to my right and my laptop opened to Zoom on my left. My group and I are put into breakout rooms, and our next session begins. 

The patient pops up on the screen and looks at all of us. Despite being in a hospital bed, she looks happy. There is a moment of awkwardness between us all. Everyone is silent—no one says “hello” to the patient. Not knowing what to do, I start to wave. She waves back and smiles. 

This moment has stuck with me, because although my colleagues and I are used to the repetitiveness of logging on to a Zoom meeting and not saying anything until our facilitator does roll call, these virtual patient visits are a different experience. This is new to them, and probably a bit frightening to have ten students in little squares staring at them as they’re being questioned. 

All this makes me wonder how our interactions will be different from previous students who had in-person hospital visits. Are online learning and Zoom hospital sessions making us less social? Will we be able to bring the same positive attitude we once had? 

For now, those questions are unknown, but for the health and safety of all, it is the right choice at the moment.

Self-reflection via webcam

 Moving more into the session, we learned more about the life of our patient. She worked in healthcare for many years and, now, being on the opposite side of the spectrum, was a bit uncomfortable. But you could tell she had lost none of the wit or quickness that had no doubt served her well in her career.

It was almost comical to see her help the physician on duty read the charts—she knew exactly what to look for.  Despite being hospitalized for over two months, she was alert and eager to answer any question anyone had for her. Her positive attitude and willingness to teach gave me the impression that she was well-liked as a healthcare worker. 

Observing this patient made me hope that, in the future when people meet me, they will be able to feel this same way. Time will tell, but it will be something I strive for going forward. 

Despite the inconvenience of Zoom hospital sessions and not being able to experience the same fulfillment as in-person visits, it provides more time for self-reflection on what we ourselves can strive to change in order to make the patient feel just as cared for—even through a webcam.

About Alexandra

Alexandra Sueldo is a third-year medical student at St George’s University. She’s not sure what medical specialty she wants to choose yet, but enjoys studying pathology.