A day in the life of a medicine student during the COVID-19 pandemic
Published: 28 April 2020
Fourth-year medicine student, Rémi-Adele Kaz.
Being in lockdown means the lives of university students all over the world have changed dramatically. One of our fourth-year medical students, Rémi-Adele Kaz, shares how she balances her volunteering efforts, studying, staying healthy and keeping in touch with family and friends.
Morning routine
8am: My alarm goes off. I’ve found it useful to maintain some sense of routine during these uncertain times. I brush my teeth, take some Vitamin D and put on gym clothes.
Using an app on my phone, I do a 40-minute strength workout in my room, whilst listening to a playlist of some of my favourite songs in the background. The workout is very challenging today, and I am exhausted when it’s over!
9am: I have a shower and get dressed. It’s important to me to resist the temptation to simply wear tracksuit bottoms and instead I put on an outfit that I would normally wear out. Even though I won’t be seeing anyone except my flatmate, it’s something that keeps me cheerful in these difficult times.
Studying
9.30am: After breakfast, I make a cup of tea and take it to my desk as I sit down to start studying. As we are unable to go to placement, the university has put lectures online for us to learn from. I spend the morning using the online resources to learn about labour and childbirth. I finish my study session by doing some practice questions online. It’s certainly challenging to make yourself do work whilst there is a global pandemic going on, but I try to focus on the fact that this will all be over one day and I will need this knowledge to help patients myself in the future.
1pm: I make myself some lunch and then go for a walk to Garratt Green – a lovely green space, not too far from St George’s. Everyone on the green is keeping to social distancing rules, and it feels great to get some fresh air in the sun.
Volunteering
2pm: I have a video-call meeting with other volunteers in an organisation called Med Supply Drive UK. Med Supply Drive UK was created very recently – it’s an organisation run by volunteers, including several doctors and medical students, who are asking for donations of unused personal protective equipment (such as surgical gloves, masks, face visors and “Hazmat” suits) from non-healthcare settings (such as film and television, research laboratories, schools and construction). These are the organised for redistribution to frontline workers in the NHS. It’s a lot of work, but luckily it is something that we can do working from home. The meeting is really useful and I learn a lot.
Many of my friends at St George’s are also volunteering in a variety of different ways to me. St George’s has been brilliant in providing us with a list of ideas of ways in which non-final year medical students can volunteer. For example, some friends are part of the National Health Supporters scheme – this is where medical students across the country are providing services such as childcare for people working in the NHS as we’re all DBS-checked. Other friends are volunteering by working in administration in GP surgeries.
The other day, I saw a photo on Facebook of someone in my year wearing goggles, a visor and a protective suit, about to start his first shift as a Student Volunteer Health Care Assistant – working in hospital to support nursing care of patients. The photo is put up by his parents – they must be incredibly proud of him.
I’m also part of a group called St George’s, University of London Covid Response team – this is a group of volunteers set up by St George’s students in order to provide help to St George’s Hospital and to the local area. Sharing a campus with the hospital puts us St George’s students in a unique position where we are all hugely emotionally attached to St George’s Hospital – we’ve almost all been on placement here and many of us will apply to work here one day.
Currently, SGUL Covid Response team is playing a huge role in making up food packages using donations from some incredibly generous local restaurants and distributing food around St George’s Hospital to the workers.
Helping in other ways
3.30pm: I get a text from NHS Blood Donation reminding me about my donation next week. I’m weirdly exciting for a change in my routine that day! It’s so important that people continue to donate blood at the moment, and the NHS Blood Donation service are being really reassuring that they have taken the necessary steps to minimise risk to the donors.
Relaxation and socialising
4.45pm: Time for my afternoon yoga class! It’s a virtual class over video call. They are one of the many lovely places offering a discount for NHS workers: they are giving a free month of streamed yoga for anyone in the NHS. I’m finding yoga to be stress-busting and fun during this pandemic. I’m also enjoying doing YouTube yoga classes over video call with my friends.
6pm: My sister and I video call each other and we talk about the impact of the pandemic on her job. She is a freelancer who usually goes into companies to facilitate groupwork – but with this being difficult amongst the pandemic, she has had to turn her focus to working as an illustrator. Her art is incredible and I’m so grateful that people are buying her work in such a chaotic time. I know how much seeing her work on my wall brightens up my time whilst I’m spending so much time at home!
7.30pm: Dinner on video call with my friends! It’s always so lovely seeing them. Coronavirus is starting to affect some of my friends’ families and it really brings it closer to home when I hear things like that. I send a text to my parents to remind them that I love them and to keep themselves safe.
8pm: It’s Clap for the Carers tonight. I open my window and it’s honestly really heart-warming to hear all the cheering from all the flats and houses nearby. I actually found it quite emotional tonight.
I speak to my friend who is a nurse on the frontline of the NHS. She says how exhausting the days are and I tell her how proud I am of her – nurses like her are working so incredibly hard and it can’t be easy day-in, day-out.
9pm: I can see on Twitter that so many of the doctors who I am used to seeing at the front of a lecture theatre or teaching me on placement are out there on the frontline. It makes me feel grateful to be at a university where I know I’m being taught by people who have so much experience and really know what it’s like to be out there working on the wards. I also see that the MP for Tooting, who is also a doctor, has shared a photo of herself starting a shift working at A&E at St George’s. It means a lot to me to see all hands on deck.
10pm: I decide to do a facemask and watch a film on Netflix before I go to sleep. I like to end the day relaxing and keeping away from the news in the couple of hours before I sleep. It’s been a long day, but I’m glad that I am managing the find the balance between playing my part, being productive and doing some nice things for myself too.