With the COVID pandemic making its way to Nebraska, the hospital began to prepare. Sean Figy MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery-Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, was asked to lead the helm for the education disaster response for clinical education. With the campus closed to students and clinical students being removed from the clinical work environment, Figy, along side Regan Taylor MD of Internal Medicine, were tasked with developing eight weeks of curriculum in three days. Together, they developed a course that encompassed the Virology and Epidemiology of COVID-19 as well as ethical considerations of pandemics, disaster preparedness, surge planning and incident command as well as the physicians role in pandemic response teams. Three hundred and twenty students enrolled in the eight week course which was a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning. Also involved in the course was a service learning portion for the students to leverage their unique perspective on the pandemic and use it to benefit their communities at home. Over 8,000 volunteer hours were logged by UNMC Students throughout the duration of the course.
