key: cord-0924971-ebh03z46
authors: Santucci, Catherine; McMaster, David; Veremu, Munashe
title: Out of hours experience in primary care during COVID-19
date: 2020-07-15
journal: Fam Pract
DOI: 10.1093/fampra/cmaa070
sha: 1f284460fac314b8c33d366f905eae9144c7b331
doc_id: 924971
cord_uid: ebh03z46

nan

Dear Editor, As medical students from the UK, we have seen increasing demands for primary care exposure within the undergraduate curriculum. Out of hours work is a rare phenomenon at medical school, yet it is an everyday part of being a doctor. We believe there are novel opportunities for medical students to engage in out of hours work in primary care during this pandemic. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused disruption to medical education with many medical students removed from clinical placements and currently isolating at home. We propose that during this pandemic, primary care centres should open opportunities for medical students to volunteer during out of hours work, both to contribute to missed learning experiences and to augment the current primary care workforce. Inevitably, as the number of COVID-19 cases increase, there will be greater demand on primary care services.

Many medical students have already started to volunteer in hospitals in roles such as phlebotomists, health care assistants and as newly classified doctor's assistants (1) . However, we are unaware of any volunteering opportunities for medical students based in the primary care setting, where we believe they can offer significant support. Unlike non-emergency telephone referral services such as 111 in the UK, where a fixed proforma of questions can be followed, screening in primary care will require training. Medical schools and associated primary care centres should work together to offer this training, enabling students to contribute as soon as possible. Beyond the novel learning experience, there is also an added value for students who engage with telemedicine services. Telemedicine is playing a large role in the response to this pandemic and is undoubtedly the future, particularly in out of hours primary care (2) . COVID-19 is producing an unprecedented opportunity for medical students to experience this transition in practice and simultaneously learn how to improve their skills.

Barriers to participation in out of hours work include ensuring suitable supervision, appropriate financial remuneration and transport (3) . We believe opening these opportunities locally on a volunteer basis will alleviate some of these barriers, attracting many of the thousands of medical students keen to help the National Health Service (NHS), but currently without the opportunity to do so. As COVID-19 continues and people avoid visiting their general practitioner, there will be an inevitable increase in prevalence of untreated chronic diseases (4).

We still do not know what the effects of this increased burden will be, or the strains this will put on primary care services, but we do believe that medical students offer a valuable workforce to complement the current services. Out of hours work in general practice is a useful adjunct to existing primary care placements, and we have no doubt it will be integrated into future curriculums. For the current cohort of medical students, there are valuable learning opportunities that can be utilized during this pandemic, alongside providing a useful workforce.

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