Uncertainty / loss of control - day to day, and future
Emotions - fear, anger, frustration;
Loss of ‘sense of purpose’ - feeling (and receiving messages from school/clinical sites) that they are ‘non-essential’ team members, not allowed to see COVID-19 patients or rule outs, or see other patients, in a time of limited PPE (personal protective equipment)
Concern about safety
Concern about impact on career trajectory
Personal impact
Create frequent video conference Q&A with brief updates (e.g. with Zoom) with school/student affairs leaders, joined by LC faculty; Harvard doing this daily at 5pm
Offer small group ‘virtual check-ins’ with LC faculty and their own students, to listen and process together. Topics to consider:
Keep celebrations going virtually: Match Day and graduation ideas included having students create short video clips on TikTok of them opening their envelopes or receiving their diplomas, creating a virtual ‘room’ announcing sending emails to each student, holding on to some elements of tradition from our own campuses
For LCs that teach in curriculum:
Uncertainty / loss of control - future and day to day
Emotions: fear, worry, fatigue, mistrust
Concern about personal safety in context of taking care of patients, being in health care environment
Learning how to teach and support our students effectively via distance learning: especially challenging for schools and/or faculty/staff without infrastructure, such as webcams, distance learning tools, tech support
Spread very thin: pulled to work more clinically, wearing admin ‘hats’ that require a lot of time/engagement, supporting worried students/being available, ongoing teaching workload, taking care of children / running ‘home school’ / arranging childcare while juggling professional responsibilities
Grieving the loss of pivotal celebrations for our students, that are important also for us! (Match day)
Worrying about our students: well-being, triaging their concerns, trajectory
Bombarded by email messages; hard to process them all
Offer steady community: We need to keep playing an integral part of our educational communities, and to have our faculty/staff feel like they are ‘coming home’ when we gather, even if virtually.
Reconnect to purpose: Reminder to faculty/staff/students that our core work - learning and growing together, and supporting each other in the context of authentic longitudinal relationships - is even more important right now
Keep teaching and mentoring! Teaching students (even via video conference) is powerful, important, helps buoy our spirits, gives us purpose; set up regular zoom calls with your students
Involve LC faculty/staff in solutions to the unique challenges of this time, so that we draw on the creativity and ideas of the whole group, and folks feel heard, part of the solutions, invested.
Set aside workday time for faculty development on teaching virtually: Getting up to speed is important, that all faculty/staff feel confident enough, and they are not learning how to do this nights/weekends; Johns Hopkins offered webcams to faculty without them.
Prioritize culture of well-being: In this stressful and busy time, messages from leaders (including LC leaders!) around a culture of ‘self care’ and compassion are powerful (e.g. “When you are away from work, please prioritize your rest, take walks outside / be with nature, focus on your family and/or what renews you. Try to unplug from work at least one day per week if possible.”).
Encourage and care for each other: LC faculty could reach out to each other and to those in busy leadership and clinical roles to offer emotional support, logistical help
Be explicit about flexibility for faculty/staff: especially for those who are pulled to patient care, as well as personal and family care