Kierstin Utter, a medical student at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, is among four student contributors to an article published May 1 by Psychiatric Times sharing how their schools have secured the educational aspects of the psychiatry clerkship during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Utter, as well as colleagues from Michigan State University, The Ohio State University and the University of Michigan, shared how their respective schools were adapting to an announcement from the Association of American Medical Colleges to halt medical student clinical rotations during the pandemic. Utter shared with the magazine the innovative way Wayne State is handling the psychiatry clerkship in light of COVID-19.

For her, the rise of COVID-19 in Michigan coincided with the final month of the 2019-2020 academic year. Approximately 25 students were scheduled to end their year with the core psychiatry rotation from March 19 to April 10. Instead of canceling the rotation, faculty and leadership adapted quickly to develop a remote curriculum that would expose students as much as possible to the field of psychiatry, she said.

Read the article, “Psychiatry clerkships during Covid-19: How medical schools are responding,” for details on how Wayne State is handling the clerkship.