Global Health Program Annual Report 2021

The Impact of COVID-19
on My Education
Senior Nursing Student at
University of Vermont
Sarah Cordisco
As a senior nursing student, I am disappointed that
the COVID-19 pandemic has had such a profound
impact on my education and career. It has created
staffing shortages, unsafe nursing assignments, and
an unheard-of number of deaths while revealing the
many holes in our healthcare system. It has entirely
shifted my view of nursing. The expected feelings of
anxiety and excitement that come with starting a
career have become muddied with worsening fears
and worries about the future state of health care, staff
safety, and patient safety.
The burnout healthcare workers are facing is unlike
any before and it is disheartening that I need to
consider this in myself before I have even completed
my education. It becomes depressing to see nurses
in-person and on social media express their feelings
of hopelessness and despair over the state of our
current health system. These feelings are reflected in
how our current nursing leaders and mentors teach
students, how they provide patient care, and how they
treat those around them.
Entering a profession during an unprecedented
time, I find it hard to feel prepared for my future
job. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that my
professors cannot prepare me for this, as they have
not experienced it themselves. They have tried to give
me the education and experience to be a nurse, but
no one was prepared to be a nurse in a pandemic.
Despite these challenges, I have learned a lot from
experiencing a pandemic, such as how to be more
adaptable, self-reliant, and resilient. I have gained
skills and new ways of thinking that otherwise would
have only come with years of experience.
Coordinator of the Nuvance Health/
RUSM/AUC Global Health Program
Elina Mukhametshina, MD
Elina Mukhametshina, MD, graduated from
Kazan State Medical University (KSMU) in
2017. She successfully finished her residency
training in general adult psychiatry and
narcology at KSMU in 2019, during which
she was awarded a special achievement
scholarship for young psychiatrists.
She was also part of the general psychiatry
department at KSMU teaching faculty,
teaching general psychopathology to
international students.
As an active member of the European
Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT)
and a newly elected bylaws committee
member, Dr. Mukhametshina is responsible
for organizing internships and clerkships for
psychiatrists from all over Europe. Her fields
of interest include general adult psychiatry,
geriatric psychiatry, and global mental
health. She is currently coordinator of the NH/
RUSM/AUC Global Health Program. She also
contributes to the global health eMagazine
as a photographer.
56 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT LARNER COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND NUVANCE HEALTH