Matriculates of the Wayne State University School of Medicine now have an online elective dedicated solely to the COVID-19 pandemic that has brought the nation to a near standstill.

The COVID-19 elective course, directed by Associate Professor of Pediatrics Nakia Allen, M.D., was born out a desire to equip medical students for clinical work in this pandemic.

“We want them to have a baseline understanding of what we know about the virus and equip them to provide additional value to their clinical setting,” Dr. Allen said.

The elective is updated regularly based on the evidence Dr. Allen and other faculty read in academic journals.

“For example, at first we were focusing on distribution of resources, but now, it makes more sense to look at the pandemic’s impact of the social determinants of health, and articles designed to advise on how to end social distancing,” she said.

Dr. Allen is mindful that many of the clinical faculty like her are very involved with patient care and are impacted by the pandemic. She also directs the medical school’s Population, Patient, Physician and Professionalism, or P4, course.

“This elective was also born out of our desire to share the clinical parts of our lives with our students,” she said. “Students have thanked us for putting this together, and they seem to appreciate the up-to-date primer.”

The online curriculum includes opportunities for group work with student colleagues.

Dr. Allen volunteered to direct the course out of a sense of duty to WSU’s medical students.

“I know that everyone is going through unprecedented change and uncertainty. This was an attempt to address a need and bring some stability back while we wait this out together,” she said.

The teaching team has also adapted portions of the course into the curriculum’s permanent P4 course, with emphasis on how the social determinants of health are implicated.