Prehealth

Newsletter

March 12, 2020

Dear Pre-Health Community,

By now many of you are probably considering the implications of COVID-19 on your current and future shadowing/volunteer/job opportunities.  There is a strong possibility that you will be asked not to report to these planned experiences or your places of work/volunteer.  Please consider that this is often not just to protect you, but to protect vulnerable/at-risk people.  Healthcare workers are often called upon to put the well-being of others before their personal needs/wants.

While shadowing and other nonessential opportunities inside of medical systems might go away, there are likely other opportunities for you to serve your community during a difficult time.  Please be understanding if opportunities to help do not arise immediately; overburdened organizations are not always able to supervise or provide guidance to “helpers” in an emergency. 

This is likely the most important public health event in your lifetime—take this opportunity to reflect on what is required of healthcare professionals in a crisis.  Consider what your life might look like if you were currently a health professional called upon to protect and care for sick or vulnerable individuals.  What effect might this have on your own mental health? Your family’s well-being and safety? How would you handle sick patients who could not be cared for because a health crisis had overwhelmed the system? What would your ethical and moral obligations to the profession be?  This is a unique opportunity to consider a worst-case scenario in your chosen profession.

You are always welcome to talk these things through with your pre-health advisers.  Pre-Health advising will continue to take place through Zoom.  You can sign-up for appointments in Starfish.

Please take care.

Sincerely,

Penn State Pre-Health Advisers

Kimberly E. Johnson
Dr. Melissa Krajcovic
John R. Moses

Update on MCAT testing: For those of you scheduled for a March or April MCAT test date, rescheduling fees will be waived for those concerned about the implications of COVID-19.  For MCAT reservations that are canceled due to a closure, examinees will receive an email with additional details from Pearson VUE and with next steps for rescheduling exams. Please review the Pearson VUE website for the latest information.

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