One hundred ZSF JU students have joined South Bohemian hospitals since Monday

One hundred ZSF JU students have joined South Bohemian hospitals since Monday

Since Monday, one hundred students of the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences of the University of South Bohemia have increased the number of healthcare workers in all South Bohemian hospitals. With regard to the current situation, the Dean of the Faculty, Dr. Ivana Chloubová, decided to shift the start of students’ professional internships to an earlier date than usual. "Usually the semester begins with theoretical teaching,” she explained. But in the current situation it is necessary to immediately send into practice those students who already have the professional knowledge and skills to fully participate in the nursing team and who are able to effectively help health professionals".

Therefore, students of the third and higher years of the bachelor's fields of General Nursing and Paramedicine will carry out their practice, and in the following weeks their other classmates will do the same. This week, more than ninety FHSS USB students will support the departments of anaesthesiology and resuscitation, infectious, internal, and other departments with the urgent staff shortage that is currently being experienced. Besides České Budějovice hospital, the students will also join all district hospitals in the South Bohemian region. The hospitals will provide accommodation for those who would otherwise have to commute.

For the duration of the emergency, the government has declared work obligatory for final year students of medical study programmes and for all students of social programmes under the auspices of the Regional Office of South Bohemia. The list of eligible students (including their contact details) was sent by the Dean to the Governor of the South Bohemian Region. In addition, the faculty immediately began to organize assistance in its own way. Theoretical teaching is supposed to resume in January 2021.

The faculty responds to the needs of South Bohemian hospitals on an ongoing basis, so since last Monday, five students of the 3^rd year of the Bachelor's degree in General Nursing have been sent to the hospital in Český Krumlov (which asked for them due to staff shortage). The Dean added, "Just like during the first wave of the pandemic in the spring, we are again seeing the great willingness of our students to help. Some of them are already working individually as volunteers.". The winter semester began less than a month ago, on September 29. At present, FHSS USB students are completing the theoretical part of their studies via distance learning, and students of medical programmes can participate in clinical and practical training at the faculty, for example in the Simulation Centre for Medical Fields, laboratories or professional classrooms.

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