MEDICAL students have endured a whirlwind year as COVID-19 affects work placements and on-campus study across the nation.
Flinders University Rural Health SA medical student Rachel Crook entered her sixth year of study at the Mount Gambier campus this year not knowing she would complete her degree in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.
Ms Crook relocated from Ballarat, Victoria to Mount Gambier to complete her studies, expecting a regular campus environment and four-day a week placement.
Instead the young student found herself studying from her quarters away from her family and only taking placement once per week.
“COVID-19 has definitely affected our placements because the whole idea of studying here in Mount Gambier over the year was to sit in at the hospital and at a general practitioner clinic, but when lockdown happened a lot of our supervisors were working from home or through telehealth,” Ms Crook said.
“There was a period there where we were not on placement at all but were attending lectures online.”
The aspiring doctor said once restrictions were lifted and placements were back on the cards she noticed a shift in the patients.
“We are now seeing a lot less people come into the hospital which is really good because it means people are staying at home instead, but it also made it more challenging for learning and practicing some of those skills,” she said.
“Doing placement during the pandemic has allowed us to see the message of general public health and how well received it has been.”
Ms Crook said although studying away from her family was tough due to current border restrictions in place between South Australia and Victoria, the university had provided support for students who found it difficult to manage.
“I never expected anything like this to happen while I was studying and even in the early days I did not expect it to affect me as much as it has in my studies,” she said.
“Overall it has been a challenging year in a lot of ways but I think just trying to remember we are doing the best we can as a community and are working together really well here in Mount Gambier we can get back to the new normal, whatever that may be.”
