Help in the pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic is posing major challenges for hospitals. Medical students are helping address them. Olivia Hänni, who has helped out at University Hospital Zurich, looks back on some intense encounters.

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Would she sign up again? What a question! “I didn’t have to think twice about helping out at USZ,” says Olivia Hänni looking back to March 2020. She had just started the eighth semester of her medical degree when Covid-19 put a stop to teaching at universities. It became clear that the pandemic would pose major challenges for hospitals, and that they would need additional support with everything from checking incoming patients to helping in intensive care. This prompted two medical students in Zurich to launch a project enabling their fellow students to get involved at USZ. It got a huge response, and so far more than 500 students have helped out.

Olivia Hänni was one of the first to sign up. “I felt that after three-and-a-half years of study I had something to contribute that would be needed in this unprecedented situation.” She signed up as a volunteer, expecting nothing in return. At that point no one could have foreseen that her help would also be rewarded and recognized as coursework – thanks among other things to USZ Corona Solidarity Fund donors.

Total immersion

From April to June, Olivia Hänni took on various tasks at USZ. This included taking coronavirus swabs and touring USZ to remind patients and staff about the tighter hygiene rules. But her main job involved helping taking brief medical histories from people with Covid-19 symptoms, receiving patients, registering them for a ward or unit, showing them the way or accompanying them to an appointment. Outside pandemics, all this takes a lot less work, because many patients are used to making their own way around the university hospital. “Given the elevated risk of infection in a pandemic, it’s crucial for every person coming to USZ to first be asked about any symptoms and accompanied individually to their appointment. This enables contacts to be reduced and the hygiene rules to be observed.”

For Olivia Hänni it wasn’t so important what jobs she did. “The aim was to take the burden off the staff. I also got to know the daily hospital routine even better.” There were some very intense experiences for her – for example when people called the triage station in desperation, were confused about the new hygiene rules or even expressed suicidal thoughts because they feared getting infected. “At that point I really saw how hard the pandemic is hitting some people,” says Hänni.

Project sets a precedent

“The medical students are very important to help us manage all the additional work during a pandemic. I’m really delighted by the solidarity shown by students at Zurich,” says University Hospital Zurich CEO Gregor Zünd. The project soon set a precedent, and students have subsequently helped out at other hospitals in Switzerland.

Olivia Hänni worked a total of 85 hours at USZ, in addition to studying independently in preparation for her next exams. “I’m glad to have been able to make a valuable contribution in these difficult times,” she explains.

100% financed

Two foundations are supporting the USZ Corona Solidarity Fund with this project: The Ernst Göhner Foundation and Georg und Bertha Schwyzer-Winiker-Stiftung.