More Than 1,120 RSU Students and Residents are Helping to Treat COVID-19 Patients

Plasma transfusion and caring for intubated patients are just some of the skills that Ingus Arnolds Apse, a student at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU), had to develop quickly while he was working with COVID-19 patients. Unlike last December, when the prospective doctor joined his practicing colleagues on the frontline of the pandemic and other students’ response was not so great, Apse now meets many of his fellow students at the hospital.

According to estimates by RSU, 514 students and 610 residents are currently involved in treating COVID-19 patients at medical institutions in Riga and outside the capital. There are an additional 115 students who want to get involved. In order to promote students to be socially responsible and support the healthcare system during the crisis, RSU has begun to equate students' work to a study placement and is offering scholarships to students.

Apse started as a medical assistant at the Pulmonology Department at the Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital, which was transformed into a COVID-19 ward during the pandemic. This year he has spent almost all his time on the frontline and has became a medical assistant.

‘The experience is exhausting, but at the same time it is helping me to improve and grow. Furthermore, I am happy that I can help at the time when there is a lack of medical staff at the hospitals,’ says the prospective doctor.

‘RSU is proud of its students, because we are a socially responsible university! We are pleased that our students are being responsible at a time when the country is facing serious challenges. Our students showed that they were willing to get involved already before the situation became critical last year and this spring,’ emphasises RSU Rector, Professor Aigars Pētersons.

Out of the 483 RSU students who have decided to support and help out at medical institutions, more than 300 students are from the Faculty of Medicine. 144 are from the Faculty of Rehabilitation, and 70 from the Faculty of Public Health and Social Welfare. 40 RSU students are currently helping treat COVID-19 patients in rural Latvia. Another 115 students have expressed interest to join the volunteers already at the hospitals. In addition, 610 residents from RSU are currently employed at COVID-19 wards, as well as working with COVID-19 patients within their respective specialties. Taking the total number of active RSU residents into account, 89% of all RSU residents are currently engaged in medical institutions throughout Latvia to combat COVID-19; 84 of them work in regional medical institutions.

RSU is supporting the students' work in treating COVID-19 patients by equating the skills and competencies they have acquired to a part of a study course or a study placement. The students’ achievements can also be compensated in other ways and each faculty will make these decisions individually. A faculty could decide to raise student’s grade for their final exam. At the beginning of November, the university announced a decision to support students financially by establishing a scholarship fund for medical and healthcare students who have volunteered at healthcare institutions in order to combat COVID-19. RSU redirected 140,000 EUR to the scholarships from its own funds.