UW Medicine
Weekly Information for UW Medical Students
Thursday, August 5, 2021
 

COVID-Related Information
 

Do You Have Concerns About COVID- 19 Symptoms or a Possible Exposure? 

If you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, or if you have encountered a possible or known exposure, please follow these COVID-19 Exposure/Symptoms/Diagnosis procedures:
 

UW Medicine Town Hall Meeting

Please join us for the next UW Medicine Town Hall on Friday, August 13, at 3 PM PDT.
 

Information for All Students
 
Vaccines and Clinical Training 

The University of Washington requires all faculty, staff and students to be vaccinated and attest to their vaccination status. You can find the attestation form HERE. 

An increasing number of clinical training sites throughout WWAMI are also requiring verification that students are fully vaccinated (two weeks or more since last vaccine dose) before students can begin seeing patients – either for clinical rotations or for the Primary Care Practicum (PCP)/College mornings. If you are not vaccinated, you may not be able to participate in your clerkship or PCP/College mornings depending on the requirements of the clinical training site. If you are not vaccinated and are concerned about your clinical training opportunities, please contact Dr. Tolbert (adminsa@uw.edu). We strongly encourage you to get vaccinated. 
 
Masking on the UW Seattle Campus 

The Office of the UW President strongly recommends that everyone wear a mask when indoors regardless if you are vaccinated or not. 
 
Health Insurance Reminder for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, and Montana Students 

If you need or want to change your health insurance plan, the federal special open enrollment period to obtain health insurance coverage for the remainder of 2021 is in effect through August 15, for individuals in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, and Montana*. You can access the healthcare exchange for your particular state via the following website: https://www.healthcare.gov/. 

*Idaho’s special enrollment deadline expired in April. 

Medical students are strongly encouraged to obtain and maintain health insurance while enrolled at the School of Medicine. Incoming first-year students in Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho may be eligible for a student health insurance plan through your WWAMI partner university. More information about health insurance is available on the SOM Health Insurance website and from your local Foundations site. 
 
BIPOC Focus Group Invitation for Students who completed RUOP 

Did you participate in RUOP during your first summer of medical school and identify as BIPOC? The Office of Rural Programs is inviting you to participate in a focus group. We are seeking self-identified BIPOC folks to participate in 60-90-minute virtual focus group-style sessions in August on a Wednesday or Thursday evening. All information will be kept confidential and all personal and site identifiers will be removed. If you would like to participate and contribute to this study, please sign up at this link: wejoinin sign-up sheet. If the dates/times included on the wejoinin sign-up sheet don’t work for you, please contact Bopha Cheng or Brian Cedeño (emails below). We value your time and feedback—attendees will receive a $30 gift card for participating. 

We would like to have diverse representation in these discussions, so please consider attending. For questions, please contact the facilitators of the focus groups directly: Brian Cedeño, MS2, cedeno93@uw.edu and Bopha Cheng, bophac1@uw.edu. 
 
Compliance Awards 

Congratulations to the 194 MS4s who qualified to receive the UWSOM Commitment to Patient Safety and Personal Accountability Certificate of Recognition (aka the “Compliance Awards”). 

The students who received the certificate of recognition have maintained a 100% compliant status throughout medical school without ever missing a deadline. 

The E18 class set a record for overall compliance, beating the previous record by 11%! THANK YOU from all of us in the SOM compliance world! 
 

In case you missed it
 
Here is a link to last week’s Student Newsletter. That issue included the following information for all students: 
  • Montlake Bridge Closure Impacts Access to Health Sciences Building and UW Medical Center 
  • Learning Environment Corner - Neurosurgery: Improving the Student Clerkship Experience through Empowerment Evaluation 

Updates for each class:
 
 
University of Washington School of Medicine
1959 NE Pacific St, Seattle, WA 98195