Hello!

I'm José Olmedilla, I'm from Madrid and next year I'll start my fifth year of Medicine + International Program.

As a student at School of Medicine at the University of Navarra, I have been asked to describe the day-to-day life of the students during this period of pandemic and confinement, from the suspension of face-to-face classes (how far away March 13 is now!) until May 18, the date of the last exam of the ordinary exams.

First of all, I would like to start by thanking the entire School de Medicina, from the students to the Dean, Dr. Secundino Fernández; but especially the members of the administrative office and Dr. José Hermida, Associate Dean de Alumnos, who from the very beginning thought of us, the students, so that we would not miss a single day of class and that everything would go according to plan despite the difficult circumstances.

On 12 March we received an email informing us of the suspension of face-to-face classes and a day later we were notified that teaching would continue via the ZOOM platform. In addition, they confirmed that the class schedules would be maintained: if on Tuesdays at 4pm there was Gynaecology, on Tuesdays at 4pm there would continue to be Gynaecology classes, and so on with the rest of the subjects.

In these early stages of the confinement, the students asked that the classes be recorded and that the videos be uploaded to the ADI Virtualclassroom for later viewing in the event of not being able to attend to class live, and this was done.

I would also like to highlight the admirable availability of the teachers and their commitment to us. I say this because the vast majority of them are doctors and we cannot imagine how much effort it has taken for them to combine clinical care with preparing and teaching the classes.

As the exams approached - which we medical students see approaching at the end of March - some of us were asked to collaborate in choosing the ideal platform for the exams. I remember that on 25 March Dr. Hermida sent us an e-mail with this request, barely 10 days after the suspension of classes, and more than a month before the start of the exams. I would like to emphasise this fact, because it was the students themselves who expressed our needs and who chose the best method to be evaluated at the request of the School... We did not even have to ask for it. This is the subject of initiatives that make the School of Medicine at the University of Navarra the best in the world, and I say this with total conviction and certainty.

degree program Within 15 days of the first final examination we already had a platform (Proctorio) that had all the guarantees to avoid fraud and did not create any obstacles for the students when it came to taking their exams. In addition, we were all able to take a test beforehand to familiarise ourselves with the new system.

So when the exams came around, we knew exactly how to proceed; few problems were encountered and those that were, were resolved quickly. We all witnessed how, 15 minutes before each exam, there was a ZOOM session open with staff from administrative office to solve any problems at the start and how, during the exam itself, there were up to four telephone lines available so that any problems could be reported quickly and solved on the spot. These facts are sample of the levels of submission, commitment and professionalism that we have at MedUNAV.

I will leave many things in the "digital inkwell" from which I write, such as individual cases that I cannot vouch for, or facts that I simply forget, but I believe that what I have said sample is faithful to what we have experienced.

I would like to conclude as I began, with my thanks to all the members of the School de Medicina, who have carried out an unbeatable work , with no room for uncertainty or chaos and counting on the students for everything.