The health care system is in an unprecedented fight against the virus • Now, hundreds of interns and interns will move from school - directly to the front of the war on the plague
Corona ward in a hospital in Israel // Photo: Dudu Greenspan
"Understand the size of the responsibility on my shoulders"
Roni Posten Koren, begins internship at Barzilai Hospital
Roni Posten Koren (28) completed her medical studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
She will now begin an internship at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon - she is married to Eldad and mother to Ariel and Eden - twins who are six months old.
"Today I deeply understand the magnitude of the responsibility that rests on my shoulders," she says. "Six years ago I entered the medical school at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a girl who dreams of becoming a doctor and changing her life. The most significant in their lives. "
"Sees system ailments"
Despite the excitement, she knows it will be challenging.
"I see the ailments of the health system," shares Posten Koren, "unfortunately I was not trained for that. On the first day in the inpatient ward I met a patient with heart failure and very quickly realized that the hospital also suffers from insufficiency. The whole health system too. I remember myself, "A new student, terrified of the possibility that I will come to terms with it one day. Fortunately, I have not yet completed it."
Roni will begin her internship year, which will prepare her to become an actual doctor, in less than two months.
The start date may be delayed due to the need for system staff.
"Instead of switching between the various departments and studying medicine in all its forms, my classmates and I will spend most of our last year training in the Corona departments, we will receive powers that were never given to interns," notes Roni, adding that these are powers reserved for experienced and skilled us. "Make changes to what was customary until today, but we do not have to staff the lines, but interns with proper training. Interns who also in the routine before the corona collapsed under the load in shifts around the clock without sleep. Only more internship standards will allow us to win the battle."
In conclusion, she says: "I start the internship with apprehension-excited excitement. I am proud to take part in the fight against an epidemic that is changing the world we have known, and understand the weight of the responsibility given to me. I would also like to know wholeheartedly that we will not need another epidemic our".
"Here to serve everyone"
Adiv Elias, begins an internship in emergency room at Beilinson Hospital
Adiv Elias (30) has completed his medical studies in Hungary, and is now starting an internship in the emergency department (Department of Emergency Medicine - MLRD) at Beilinson Hospital.
"In the new position in the emergency room, you meet the entire health system without filters," says Adiv. "This is the first time that people come with a problem, this is the 'door' of the hospital and the health system.
You treat all kinds of medical problems, so there are concerns and also very great excitement, this is a new stage in life.
In medicine, you always see new things in your career, like with the corona that eight months ago no one knew about. "
He says he knows the new role will force him to deal with systemic ailments: "We see in emergency medicine, in the emergency room, also the frustration and nerves of patients and their caregivers. Unfortunately, there are a lot of negative emotions directed towards doctors and staff. We deal with appointments, and need to learn how to "In the end, I understand the frustration, and we try to contain the pressure, but it must not be directed against the medical staff."
Elias notes that "right now, when the medical system is in a big crisis, more resources and more standards must be allocated. I hope that more doctors will join us and reduce the burden on the various departments to provide more effective treatment. Doctors must work under more normal conditions." ".
Along with the excitement, he also has the personal fear of being exposed and infected with the corona while working: "Sometimes there is a fear that the patient who comes to the emergency room with a problem is wearing a corona, so we protect ourselves with the appropriate clothing and equipment. "Some of the work and some of the risk. There is the concern, but it takes up very little space, because the care of patients is at the top of the list."
Finally, he has a message: "We are here to serve the entire population, no matter what sector."
"Graduation Ceremony Was Zoom"
Orian Naama Yagana, specializes in pediatric surgery at the Galilee Medical Center
After graduating from the Faculty of Bar-Ilan University in Safed, Orian Naaman Yagana (30) moved to specialize in pediatric surgery at the Galilee Medical Center, Nahariya.
"I never imagined that I would hold my medical graduation ceremony in front of a computer, through the Zoom app," says Orian about an exciting but strange class that did not have a hat-trick.
"We said the doctor's oath individually in the presence of his small nuclear family. Although the current reality has written us a social distance, the alternate ceremony was exciting."
She did her internship at the Galilee Medical Center, where she currently specializes in pediatric surgery, while managing her married life.
"I am exposed daily to many cases of trauma among children who are more likely to be injured during this period of inaction and lack of frameworks."
The medical profession, she says, "holds the opportunity and ability to help a person wherever he is. This takes on special significance especially in these days of dealing with the global corona epidemic that is affecting us all."
She recounts the difficulty and complexity of this period: "I and the ward staff have often had the opportunity to operate on children carrying the virus. The big challenge is to create a sense of security and good communication between us and those children who fear the unknown when they arrive in the operating room. , Which can sometimes deter them even more. "
Naaman Yagna notes: "We try to create a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere by creatively using accessories such as stickers and illustrations on the masks we wear. In this way we actually forget for a moment the anxiety and the new reality that was forced on us."
And it also has a positive message for the new year: "I want to wish all my colleagues, medical school graduates, a successful year of internship. We all have one common goal - to eradicate the epidemic for public health in such a health emergency. I am sure this period will harden us and make us doctors better".
"We may gain more experienced doctors"
Prof. Karl Skorecki, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed
"We 'throw the students and interns into the water earlier than usual. Of course, with appropriate training and guidance. That's why I'm not worried," said Prof. Karl Skorecki, dean of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University in Safed. A generation of less experienced doctors will emerge here, perhaps the opposite.
It's difficult because we need a lot more resources, but I see that interns and interns who we thought would be played fast - are not being eroded. "
It points to an interesting issue that is happening in hospitals and outlines the difference between doctors who have been trained in the past and those who are trained today.
"Until now, when a medical student entered the department, he would see a senior and experienced doctor who was quite confident. This doctor knows what a heart attack, asthma, etc. is. He would consider the senior doctor an authority. Today, the corona is a disease that the most senior or experienced doctor in the world does not know. "I mean, the senior doctor has no more knowledge of how Corona is treated."
"There is uncertainty and lack of information that can cause anxiety, because there is no way to know how to make the best decision, there is no book and no one has seen anything the same," he said.
Another change he talks about: "Every intern or intern knows he has to take care of his patients first, he swears by that. Now with the Corona he also has to take care of himself and his family and see that he does not bring the virus home."
This is a special year for the Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University, as this year 109 students graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee - the largest cycle completed since the establishment of the faculty.
"The doctors who leave us in the last year have been forged in an unusual year of work. The graduates who go out into the field are more prepared than ever, they have experienced clinically, out of necessity, at a much earlier stage than expected," he explains.
"Lifelong learning"
"The period of the epidemic strengthened this, and we learned a lesson in modesty and humility. The students worked closely with senior doctors, who also learn and deal with the new epidemic that has befallen the world," he said.
However he adds: "There are difficult challenges in medical school, the theoretical part is less good to teach online - but it is possible. The challenging part is practical, to take a student and teach him how to do a physical examination when he has to defend himself."
The thing that bothers him the most now: "To me, the most disturbing thing is the chronic background diseases, which do not get enough attention and fall between the chairs. The whole story of optimal balance of diabetes, follow-up tests of cancer and community medicine - people are afraid to come, or the staff to treat them goes into isolation "We must not forget the usual morbidity that afflicts the population and it does not necessarily receive attention."