With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic restricting mass gatherings, the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Office of the Deputy Director for Health Operations led by the indefatigable Dr. Juliet Sio-Aguilar and PGH Training Coordinator Dr. Stella Marie L. Jose, conducted a general orientation on 22 June 2020 through a webinar platform for both the incoming UP College of Medicine (UPCM) and postgraduate interns. Postgraduate interns are graduates from other medical schools who were accepted to the PGH internship program based on a set of stringent criteria. Inspirational messages were delivered by UP Manila Chancellor Carmencita Padilla, UPCM Dean Charlotte Chiong, and PGH Director Gerardo Legaspi.
This webinar, the first online orientation for interns ever conducted in UP Manila, was of vital importance to the 329 medical interns as the relevance of internship training in PGH during these unprecedented COVID-19 times was explained. In compliance with the directives of the Commission on Higher Education and the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges Foundation, face-to-face interactions in the wards, the emergency room, the outpatient clinics, and the community will not be allowed during the general quarantine period to minimize the risk of acquiring COVID-19.
The Learning Unit 7 Academic Committee headed by Dr. Allan Dionisio, UPCM Associate Dean for Academic Development Dr. Coralie Dimacali, and Dr. Stella Marie Jose crafted the revised internship program in response to these limitations. As no patient encounters will be possible for the first two months of internship which will commence on July 1, 2020, the major learning strategy will be an intensive review course on the various subjects under the clinical departments. These short courses will augment the cognitive knowledge of the interns and arm them for their clinical rotations when actual interactions with patients will be permitted.
While many challenges await both the trainees and trainors in the coming months, the UPCM and the PGH shall provide the learning platforms for the interns to achieve the most in their final clinical year of training. As there is no substitute for learning hands-on, the faculty and medical consultants shall tirelessly innovate to equip the interns with the necessary skills and attitudes of a five-star physician. Once the quarantine restrictions are lifted, the interns shall be closely supervised in their clinical rotations in the non-COVID wards, the outpatient clinics, and the community. Indeed, crisis like this brings about opportunity to transcend the limits. UPCM and PGH shall continue to provide the environment needed for these interns to become the compleat physicians.
Stella Marie L. Jose, MD, MHPEd | Published in Healthscape Special COVID-19 Issue No. 10
