Clinical placements for medical students in the time of COVID-19

Clinical placements for medical students are central to teaching and learning in any medical program, with students in the later years generally undertaking rotations in disciplines, such as general practice, general medicine, paediatrics, psychiatry, surgery, anaesthesia, obstetrics and gynaecology. In our medical program, there are close to 300 students currently enrolled in the 2 final years. Despite the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, Flinders University has remained committed to providing medical students with clinical placements, a stance that aligns with the Medical Deans of Australia and New Zealand,1 all state and territory health authorities, and the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee. The local consensus between stakeholders is that we have an obligation to treat all patients with appropriate safeguards in place. Given that the longer term response to COVID‐19 is unknown, removing students from clinical placements may not only affect their medical training but may also have significant implications for future workforce planning.