ISRRT_COVID-19_book

due primarily to the resurgence in COVID-19 cases, and unfortunately the limited PPE supply
challenges at that time. The clinical faculty worked with the students not knowing what the
next day would involve. This anxiety could be debilitating for learners and faculty alike, and
in preparation the learners were advised to maximize their day-to day-learning opportunities
and to strive for competency completion with an emphasis on the more difficult
competencies that were not easily transferrable to a virtual learning environment 6 .
Additionally, the pandemic related continual adjustments in departmental practicum, contact
tracing, and the real potential of exposure from anyone including the patients with whom
they were required to interact, led to daily ongoing stress for both groups. The health protocol
was that if learners were exposed to a positive test patient, the learners would need to selfisolate.
While it was difficult for the Program to address the familial and other (psych-social)
issues, other than offering virtual counselling, the Clinical Coordinators (CCs) tried to address
the missed learning time. Faculty essentially developed a playbook from which the learners
could address learning activities in the absence of the physical presence of the clinical faculty,
during the 14-day isolation. These novel approaches were dependent on the activities
completed, for example some clinical sites used videos and/or connected with the student
virtually through various meeting platforms for tutorials. CCs shared their own approaches to
learning with each other to ensure consistency as a program, all the while discussing ideas to
allow for a holistic approach to engaging learners.
The strategies outlined in the previous section were used to support and comfort the learner,
it is important to note that the faculty at the clinical sites also required support to deal with
many stressors including some indicated above. In their position as CCs, they were still tasked
with developing supportive strategies and role-modelling a calming presence for the learners.
Some CCs and faculty staff were redeployed due to the increased need for healthcare support
throughout the hospitals and healthcare centres. These challenges led to much needed
support from the MRS program faculty. To address these, in concert with the didactic faculty,
the CCs focused their thoughts on the tasks required ahead of time and thereby were able to
minimize the learners’ stress and ensure that we were meeting both the program and the
learners’ needs.
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