Marcelino Lorenzo R.

Dario IV Submitted on April 6 2020

WebQuest (Surgery rotation)

I think that being a medical student amidst this on going pandemic is the time to put into
perspective what it means to become a medical doctor. Although we are yet to have said our
Hippocratic Oaths and to have passed the board exams, I think that we as medical students may
still have an important duty during this ongoing pandemic. Although we were already pulled out
from the hospital, I think we can still fulfill our duties as future physicians outside of the hospital
through multiple ways.

For the past few weeks of being quarantined, I found that I as a fourth year medical
student have been asked a lot of questions whether it be from my family or friends that are not
in the medical field regarding the COVID-19 disease. Family members would post on social media
about various articles about the disease whether it be from a credible source or not. I found that
one role we as medical students have is to be able to filter through all these sources and find
which are credible or not. I found myself being asked questions on a constant basis on our family
group chats about the things they read online. I found myself having to correct people because
of the erroneous things they were reading online. Because of this, I found myself having to
constantly update myself and read on whatever new things were being discovered about this
disease. As the quarantine period progressed, I found that my family members trusted my
opinion more when it came to these things. I found myself having a sense of responsibility as a
future medical doctor to at least be able to spread and promote correct health information to
the people around me. In addition to this, a good example of promoting correct health
information is through producing and publishing infographics online like the output we were able
to do during this WebQuest. It is within our capacity as medical students at home to these simple
things.

I think in this simple way we as medical students can play a role in this pandemic. Health
education is an important part in preventing disease especially in the context that COVID-19 is a
respiratory virus that can be prevented through hand washing and proper social distancing. I
think that it is within our capacity as medical students to be able to emphasize the importance of
doing these things to the people around us. I think it is within our capacity to be able to filter
thorough all the multiple new information coming out on a daily basis and see which are true and
which are “fake news.”

Despite not being allowed to help in the hospital yet, we as medical students can serve
not just our families but also the general public by continuing to spread correct health related
information about COVID-19 online. Being able to provide good and accurate health information
to the general public may serve as our niche and our responsibility as future medical doctors to
help “flatten the curve” despite not being directly involved in patient care yet during this
pandemic.