The Role of Medical Students During COVID-19 Era. A Review.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK: Since December 2019, the world has been facing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic crisis. The rapid and effortless spread of the virus has led the World Health Organization to adopt unprecedented large-scale preventive measures. Our aim is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of medical students, and to evaluate their awareness and aptitude for contributing to the fight against COVID-19 contagion. METHODS: PubMed electronic database was employed for the research using the following terms: "medical students and COVID-19", "mental health of medical students and COVID-19", "knowledge of medical students and COVID-19", "preventive behavior of medical students and COVID-19". RESULTS: Twenty-one articles were included; ten assess the knowledge of medical students on COVID-19, seven present whether they demonstrate appropriate preventive behavior according to global guidelines, seven examine the impact of the pandemic on their mental health, five examine their role on the side of trained healthcare workers. Some articles combine more than one of the above mentioned domains. CONCLUSIONS: Medical students seem to demonstrate an adequate level of knowledge upon COVID-19 and implement proper strategies to prevent its spread. Further training is essential to improve some aspects in this field. Social media has proven to be the optimal source of information for medical students, which is incompatible with their future careers as doctors. The pandemic had a negative impact on medical students, expressed as fear regarding the virus spread; nevertheless, many have felt the need to assist healthcare systems under appropriate precautions.

The Role of Surgical Masks during the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Mini-Review.

Introduction - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is considered to be highly contagious and restriction of transmission requires the utilization of protective equipment like surgical masks from both healthcare workers and public. The aim of this review is to investigate the role of surgical masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods - A literature research was conducted via PubMed to detect articles featuring the potential protective role of surgical masks when they were worn by healthcare workers or by the general public. Results - Among 114 articles, only 31 met the inclusion criteria. Thirteen additional articles provided useful information according to the aim of this review. Existing literature supports the positive effect of surgical masks on COVID-19 con-lamination. Debate on the efficacy of surgical masks compared with other forms of facial protective devices exists. There seems to be a tendency to favor the use of particulate-filtering facepiece respirators in healthcare professionals who face higher risk of infection. However, surgical masks primarily and cloth masks secondarily seem to be adequate means of protection for the general public and for healthcare workers during procedures where respiratory droplets are not generated. Rational use of surgical masks is imperative; however, reuse after decontamination is not ideal. Conclusions - For optimum protection from COVID-19, the use of surgical masks should be combined with other infection control measures like hand hygiene and social distancing, since the level of their effectiveness is still being investigated. Shortage of surgical masks should be prevented; therefore, rational use plays a crucial role in this direction.