From Student to Vaccinator: How Nursing and Medical Students Tackled COVID-19

  • May 24, 2021
From Student to Vaccinator: How Nursing and Medical Students Tackled COVID-19

BY Yulliete Javier
JRN 490 Spring 2021

students in personal protective equipment to help care for COVID patients
Students Jillian Macchia (left) and Brianna O’Sullivan (right) before and after putting on their personal protective equipment for their shifts.

At the start of 2020, university students never thought they’d experience a global pandemic before graduating. Going from regular clinical hours to now vaccinating their community members, nursing and medical students are tasked with helping with the battle against COVID-19 and its spread by administering the vaccines and treating patients.

Going to college during a global pandemic has proven to be no easy feat. Many college students in New York were forced to return home last March believing the sudden outbreak would last a couple weeks, in most cases given an extra week extension of their spring breaks. In other parts of the country, students were notified that the remainder of their spring semester would be held online, leaving the graduating class with little time to process and bid farewell to the last of their on-campus experiences.

For students in the medical field, where hands-on experiences were necessary, many grew concerned about the status of their program. In this rare occasion, clinicals, labs and simulations were halted for months — like at no time before. Even more rare, students were put on the frontline helping save the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, in the battle against COVID-19.

Students made their mark as part of a historic medical corp.

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