It became known at the end of March that medical students would be attracted to help doctors in the fight against COVID-19.
As RT was told in the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, today more than 20 thousand medical students work in the red zones.
“3276 people work in the positions of junior medical personnel, 11257 - in the middle, 3479 work as trainee doctors, and 2700 as specialist doctors,” the department explained.
In addition, more than 58 thousand students in medical universities and colleges work in the framework of practical training in higher medical education programs.
“These are students who are involved in practice in the context of COVID-19.
They help in registration, in drawing up sick leaves, routing patients in polyclinics, answering questions from people in call centers, and also monitoring the condition of outpatients, ”the Ministry of Health said.
"Saves a sense of humor"
One of these students was 23-year-old Anna Zaitseva, a 6-year student at the First Moscow State Medical University named after I.M.
Sechenov.
In April of this year, she was a volunteer at a university hospital.
Now the girl is again at the forefront of the fight against coronavirus.
Twice a week he takes over for a day on duty in the "red" zone - performs the duties of a nurse: puts on droppers, gives injections, measures pressure.
© Photo from personal archive
“When I started spending so much time in a protective suit, it seemed to me that there was not enough air, it was very hot and constantly thirsty.
But you quickly get used to everything.
I even managed to fall asleep for a while in defense, if, of course, it was calm in the department, - says the student.
- The main difficulty is the large amount of work.
But we have a good team, and when there is no energy at all, the sense of humor and support of the guys saves.
Doctors also treat us with understanding, they will always answer questions. "
Anna, according to her, never regretted her decision to become a doctor: “I realized that I want to help people.
Medicine is mine. "
The opportunity to help people became decisive when choosing a profession for Viktor Kiselev, a 19-year-old second-year student at Samara State Medical University.
The young man says that he decided to become a doctor while still at school: “I decided that I would be useful to society.
It was also important for me to help myself and those close to me, if something happens ”.
In the spring, Viktor started working at the call center as a volunteer at the All-Russian mutual assistance campaign “WeVmeste”.
Then, when the number of diseases decreased, he was going to look for a part-time job - he wanted to get a job as a waiter or food delivery man.
But at the end of July he was invited to work in one of the hospitals in Samara - an orderly in the "red" zone.
After three days, he combines work with study: the young man says that the teachers understand and approve of this: "After all, I get experience, I watch how and what the nurses and doctors do, of course, it will come in handy in the future."
© Photo from personal archive
In addition to the "red" zone, he works in the "clean".
“My responsibilities include carrying out metabolic products, feeding patients, disinfecting surfaces and helping nurses.
I feel like I am part of a large team that is fighting the coronavirus infection, ”says Victor.
In September, Viktor was ill with COVID-19 in a mild form.
But now, according to him, he is not worried that he can get infected at work.
Coronavirus is an insidious and dangerous disease, the student understood this from his own experience: “In intensive care, people die quietly, we can only see from the instruments that they have passed away.
One day can decide everything.
In the morning you talk to a person, and in the evening he is gone. "
"Patients did not recognize me"
Polina Volkova, 25-year-old intern of the second year of the Russian National Research Medical University named after
N.I.
Pirogova, recalls that she wanted to become a doctor since childhood.
“Until now, my medical bag is kept at home, in which there is a toy tonometer, thermometer, jars, medical syringes without needles,” she told RT.
- I myself had serious health problems in elementary school.
I was in hospitals for a long time, asking doctors how a person works.
She even presented herself to new specialists as their future colleague. "
In 2020, Polina managed four months to work as a general practitioner in a team that provides home care, including to patients with coronavirus infection.
The girl says that for the first time in her life she encountered such a huge number of elderly and lonely people.
“It was sad and painful to see isolated elderly patients for whom no one could bring medicine and food,” she recalls.
But there were also funny situations: “Once in the yard I met a patient who had to observe the regime of self-isolation.
I asked about her well-being and reminded of the quarantine.
I live and work in the same area, so sometimes I meet recovered patients, but they do not recognize me because I wore a protective suit on calls, ”says the girl.
© Photo from personal archive
On rare days off, Polina volunteered at City Clinical Hospital # 40 in Kommunarka.
There, together with the doctor, she walked around the patients, checked the analyzes, prescription sheets and helped the students.
“Working with students is not easy, you need to have patience, but in some ways it’s even nice to feel like a mentor,” she says.
- I could hardly bear being in the "red" zone, I did not have enough air, it was very hot.
But it is still interesting to see such a modern hospital, to visit the very epicenter, where they were looking for methods of treatment, which other medical institutions were guided by ”.
Polina had to quit her job at the city polyclinic to continue her studies at the university.
However, the girl notes that working with covid patients was an interesting therapeutic experience for her.
“In March 2020, I studied at the maternity hospital as an obstetrician and got used to communicating with pregnant women,” says Volkova.
- At first it was difficult to switch from obstetrics to therapy.
But medicine is one.
In the near future I will become a gynecologist, and the acquired skills will be useful to me, because the doctor is responsible not only for the pathology of a particular system, but in general for the patient's condition.
I liked working, I felt like a real zemstvo doctor, as in the works about pre-revolutionary Russia. "
"We met thanks to COVID"
Dmitry Kolesnikov, 24, a 6th year student at Kursk State Medical University, went to medicine in the footsteps of his parents-doctors.
He works in the infectious diseases ward of the village hospital.
According to him, only in the "red" zone do you begin to understand what real responsibility is.
“On the night shift, only I am on duty on the floor, decisions, if anything, must be made independently and very quickly.
Once at night the patient became ill, he began to choke.
He needed oxygen, and the beds, where oxygen was available, were occupied.
I had to wake up patients who had oxygen and negotiate.
I connected a new mask, and the patient felt better, ”says Kolesnikov.
Like many of those students who now work in the "red" zones of hospitals, Dmitry was a volunteer this spring - delivering food for the elderly.
During that period, he met with the project coordinator Elena, who later became his bride.
“Now we live together, soon we will have an acquaintance with our parents and we are already planning a wedding,” says the student.
"We met thanks to COVID and jokingly thank him for being together."
© Photo from personal archive
By helping doctors, students gain tremendous experience, says Pavel Savchuk, chairman of the All-Russian public movement of volunteers in the health sector, Medical Volunteers: “Students and medical volunteers now have the opportunity to combine theoretical knowledge with practical knowledge, which they can then apply in their work” ...
Deputy Chairman of the Trade Union of Health Workers of the Russian Federation Mikhail Androchnikov notes that students and residents see how to organize work in a place where the infection is considered especially dangerous, and how to comply with safety conditions.
“If in the future these students are faced with a disease that is as dangerous as a coronavirus infection, then they will certainly be able to organize their work correctly,” Androchnikov explains.
According to him, the epidemic disciplines students and residents: “If some doctors who have worked for a long time, professionally burned out, then students are interested in such things, it is only for their benefit.
Of course, this release will be stronger, in particular, in terms of working with patients with bronchopulmonary pathologies. "
Directly for students of different specialties, whoever they are, this practice gives the experience of communicating with the patient, with colleagues, working in a team, performing various tasks - knowledge is never superfluous, says Maria Makeeva, head of the admission department of the reserve hospital in Sokolniki.
“For example, we employ students and residents, dentists and surgeons.
We work as a single team and no one has any despondency that they do not treat their teeth, ”Makeeva notes.
Another positive effect of this practice, she considers an increase in stress resistance of young specialists.
“Naturally, in such difficult conditions, the work is even more difficult.
But if a young man found in himself the physical and moral strength to overcome all this, looking at difficult patients, not to lose heart, and besides, to support his patients, then I think he will be more stable in the future and less prone to professional burnout " , - she summed up.