Opinion: Medical students can help combat Covid-19. Don’t send them home

Last week, while seeing a patient in the emergency department of Stanford Hospital, I witnessed the well-orchestrated commotion that follows a suspected case of coronavirus. Masked nurses, doctors, and janitors quickly isolated the patient and began disinfecting surfaces. A technician who had been in contact with the patient on transport nervously asked the staff, “How will I find out if they test positive? Who will tell me?”

Fear, contained only by the bounds of professionalism, coursed through the department as if by infusion.

I felt it as a bystander, a medical student passing through the emergency department on my psychiatry rotation. The psych resident and I had come to see a man with auditory hallucinations. We rushed past the viral activity en route to our patient’s room. As I took in the scene, I thought, “Should I be here?”

In a slew of emails