Olamide Omidele, MD, left, a participant in the Mount Sinai Medical Corps, with Mount Sinai residents who mentored him, from left: Julia Blanter, MD; Genevieve Tuveson, MD; Wells Andres, MD; and Kate Kerpen, MD.
In mid-April, as New York’s COVID-19 toll was mounting and medical teams were overwhelmed with patients, 19 fourth-year medical students from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai heeded the call and volunteered to graduate a month early. Together with 10 other early graduates from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and Duke University School of Medicine, they joined the Mount Sinai Medical Corps, a newly created training program that would allow them to begin clinical work providing vitally needed support services to overburdened staff at Mount Sinai Health System hospitals. All had been matched to Mount Sinai or other program residencies that would not begin until July 1. Each had cited a resolute need to help during a health emergency.
Initially, most new doctors were deployed in the internal medicine service as part of COVID-19 medical teams. Although they were not directly treating patients or even permitted to enter their rooms, they played a crucial role supporting the medical teams by updating patient charts, putting in orders, requesting physician consults, writing prescriptions, updating patients’ families and, most rewarding of all, coordinating patient discharges. Taking on these responsibilities enabled residents and attending physicians to spend more of their time dealing directly with patients.
“They were ready to go from Day One,” says Daniel I. Steinberg, MD, Professor of Medicine (Hospital Medicine), and Medical Education, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “They needed some onboarding, but they had the knowledge and skills and they integrated seamlessly into the hospital. They made a significant contribution and increased our overall efficiency for treating patients.” Dr. Steinberg is also Associate Chair for Education and Residency Program Director for the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel.
A team of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai faculty, including David C. Thomas, MD, left, and Salvatore Cilmi, MD, supervised the Mount Sinai Medical Corps participants.
According to David C. Thomas, MD, Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine), Medical Education, and Rehabilitation Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the situation was unlike anything that anyone had ever seen and left “even our most experienced doctors wide-eyed.” He says, “These extremely committed medical students chose to drop themselves in at the peak of a pandemic without really knowing what to expect. They had to learn how to work in a hospital and while adjusting to a constantly evolving situation going on around them. They made me proud every day.” Dr. Thomas is also Vice Chair for Education, Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Health System.
The Medical Corps doctors soon realized that the intensity of the experience—of seeing so many patients suddenly decline or pass away every day, of not having face-to-face patient interaction and not being able to touch them or hold their hand, of watching helplessly as patients were unable to see their families due to visitor restrictions—was extremely stressful. Some wonder if this experience will have long-term effects for them personally. “Most of our classmates processed the situation similarly,” says Katleen Lozada, MD, a new doctor who began her Emergency Medicine residency at Mount Sinai on July 1. “We were lucky to have each other to lean on for support.”
Katleen Lozada, MD, says of the experience: “We were lucky to have each other to lean on for support.”
The new doctors acknowledged the spirit of teamwork that they experienced. “It’s been inspiring to see how everyone has pulled together as a team,” says Olamide Omidele, MD, a Nigeria native who is now a urology resident at Mount Sinai. “Doctors, nurses, people from all different specialties, from senior people to junior people were all coming together with a common purpose. It was an awesome experience to be a part of.”
As the number of COVID-19 cases declined, Medical Corps doctors were redeployed where they were needed most, including presurgical testing, telemedicine triage, and other areas in the inpatient medical service. These responsibilities enabled them, with supervision, to act more in the capacity of residents. They were allowed to enter the rooms of non-COVID-19 patients and do what they were trained to do—to treat patients. “I’m someone who enjoys talking to patients and getting to know them and hearing their stories, beyond just their medical history,” says Yara Sifri, MD, who matched to Mount Sinai’s obstetrics and gynecology residency program and who herself had contracted a mild case of COVID-19 prior to joining the Medical Corps. “That’s what I find the most rewarding about being a doctor.”
Yara Sifri, MD, says the most rewarding part of being a doctor is “talking to patients and getting to know them and hearing their stories, beyond just their medical history.”
Medical Corps members worked approximately 50 hours per week for as many as eight weeks at The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai Morningside, and Mount Sinai West. They worked under the supervision of a team of Icahn School of Medicine faculty who also oversee residency programs. In addition to Dr. Steinberg, they included John A. Andrilli, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, and Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, Mount Sinai West/Mount Sinai Morningside; Alfred P. Burger, MD, Associate Professor, Medicine (Hospital Medicine), and Medical Education, and Associate Residency Program Director, Mount Sinai Beth Israel; Salvatore Cilmi, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, and Program Director, The Mount Sinai Hospital Residency Program; and Alejandro Prigollini, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine), and Associate Residency Program Director, Mount Sinai Beth Israel.
“The team of residents and attendings was absolutely instrumental to the success of the program,” says Adriana K. Malone, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology), Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education, and Program Director for the Medical Corps program. “In reflecting on the Medical Corps participants, they have had a very positive experience in a novel program—they were able to assist teams in the care of COVID-19 patients at the peak of the pandemic as well as gain confidence in the transition from medical school to internship here.” Their experience was also enhanced with a weekly seminar on COVID-19 topics and weekly debrief sessions.
“We could not be more proud of these young doctors for the courage, devotion, and altruism they have demonstrated, and will continue to demonstrate, throughout their careers,” says David Muller, MD, Dean for Medical Education, and Professor and Marietta and Charles C. Morchand Chair in Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “They are entering clinical medicine at a moment in history that will be remembered for generations as one of the most challenging times our nation has ever faced.”