key: cord-289825-9hpegqlh authors: Lazarus, Gilbert; Mangkuliguna, Ghea; Findyartini, Ardi title: Medical students in Indonesia: an invaluable living gemstone during coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic date: 2020-07-21 journal: Korean J Med Educ DOI: 10.3946/kjme.2020.165 sha: doc_id: 289825 cord_uid: 9hpegqlh nan Starting in late December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has brought devastating impacts to global economy and health, infecting nearly seven million people across 215 countries and accounting for hundred thousands of deaths [1] . With the declaration of this disease as a pandemic, more aggressive measures against COVID-19 have been taken, including shutting down schools and other public places to reduce disease transmission [2] . Despite evident loss in learning opportunities, medical students in Indonesia have turned this shortcoming into an advantage by volunteering in numerous activities. This article aims to deliver authors' perspectives and recommendations on the role of Indonesian medical students during COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 in Indonesia: are we on the right track? "Indonesia is still battling against COVID-19 pandemic, and further reinforcements are needed to ensure a winning battle." The battle of COVID-19 in Indonesia began on 2 March 2020 when two patients tested positive for the virus. Since then, the situation has escalated rapidly, resulting in 32,033 positive cases, 1,883 deaths, and 10,904 recoveries as of 9 June 2020 [1] . In order to flatten the curve, strict countermeasures must be implemented immediately and effectively, which has been executed by implementing large scale social distancing to preserve health system capacity and prevent its collapse. During these times, the robustness of health system becomes fundamental in determining the course of COVID-19 in Indonesia. Although it is true that stakeholders have endeavored to support the health system, we believe that further reinforcements are essential to mitigate this outbreak, which may be done by expanding mass testing and mass production of necessary medical equipment as well as caring for healthcare workers. Indonesian medical students in COVID-19 pandemic: roles and recommendations COVID-19 poses imminent threats to the health system. Without effective countermeasures to prevent its collapse, further loss may be inevitable, which calls for the need of a withstanding and effective health system. Indonesia, where medical students may apply as health volunteers. Supervised by medical experts, these medical students may participate in the tracing and management of people who had contact with COVID-19 cases [5] . Even though medical students have participated in numerous volunteering activities, we believe that their potential could be further maximized. In United States, in addition to the aforementioned initiatives, medical students may take part in childcare assistance, in-direct patient outreach, researches, and test center in-take. Furthermore, the risks of deploying clinical-year medical students are lower than that of retired clinicians which are at higher risks of contracting complications [7] , and that it will take much more efforts and resources to hire and train new workforces in such short order [8] . Such curriculum enrichment approach has also been initiated by several other medical schools (e.g., Harvard Medical School [10] ). In addition, since current COVID-19 outbreak countermeasures rely mostly on prevention and non-pharmaceutical interventions, medical schools are also encouraged to strengthen curriculum on disease prevention in addition to curative management subjects. Hence, during future outbreaks, medical students may be readily deployed without further ado, thus diminishing loss and preventing health system collapse. Lastly, it is well understood that medical education curriculum should also aim in developing professionalism among medical students. The current pandemic raises concerns on how to address a lot of uncertainties with medical students (e.g., current policy during pandemic of not sending students for the clinical rotations) and how the issues will influence their professional development [11] . Despite all challenges, we believe that the emphasis of professional development of future medical doctors in medical education should even be stronger. This involves development of empathy and compassion with patients and communities as well as the awareness towards local and global policies on COVID-19 pandemic. Students' movement as volunteers during this time can be seen as important experiences which need to be reflected upon hence the lessons will have positive impacts on their professional development and professional identity formation [12] . A study has also found that medical volunteerism in global health may improve leadership skills and interprofessional teamwork developments [13] . It is also recommended for current medical curriculum to provide rooms for such learning processes that discuss students' current roles during pandemic, ethical reasoning of most appropriate venues to volunteer considering patient and student safety and their competencies, and well-being issues [14] . This is in line with professionalism development which addresses reliability, adherence to ethical principles, effective interactions with patients and their family, effective interaction within the healthcare system, and a commitment to improving the competence of oneself, other and the healthcare system [15] . In the end, the outcomes of outbreaks depend largely on the readiness of government and stakeholders in mitigating them. However, we should remember that medical students are invaluable assets that yield prodigious potentials to enforce health system capacity. Given that medical students yield years of knowledge and experiences in medical field, we recommend medical schools in Indonesia to integrate relevant courses on outbreak mitigation and disease prevention into the medical curriculum, and relevant stakeholders to open opportunities for clinical-year medical students to involve themselves in clinical care according to their competencies, provided that the students are voluntarily recruited and given adequate knowledge and skills, proper PPE and adequate supports. We hope that the contribution of medical students during these moments may bring substantial impacts both for the pandemic control and for medical students' professional development. Current situation of developing coronavirus disease (COVID-19 European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. 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