New York University's medical school is making the unprecedented move of allowing students to graduate a few months early to join the battle against COVID-19, according to New York Daily News.
In an email to students in the graduating class of 2020, the deans of The Grossman School of Medicine asked students to consider the option of graduating early to help overcome a physician shortage amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"With the growing spread of COVID-19, our hospitals inundated with patients and our colleagues on the front lines working extra-long hours, we are still short-staffed in emergency and internal medicine," the email obtained by Brief19 states. "Burnout of our doctors has become a growing concern."
To help relieve physicians on the front line in the fight against COVID-19, the medical school and university agreed to let students graduate early to immediately begin working as interns. Students who accept the offer will begin working in NYU's internal medicine or emergency medicine departments in April instead of the typical July 1 start date.
The deans of the medical school noted that students can accept the offer even if they aren't going into the fields of internal or emergency medicine. The deans asked students to complete a survey by March 25 to gauge interest in the initiative.
New York is one of the states hit hardest by COVID-19. As of 6 a.m. CDT March 25, there were 26,376 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New York. New Jersey has the second most confirmed cases with 3,675.