Return to clinical practices in public hospitals in Costa Rica: epidemiological analysis and perspectives

Abstract

The pandemic caused by the SARS - CoV2 virus, has presented a series of challenges in all aspects of the day-to-day life of humanity, one of its most important effects is on the teaching of medicine and other health sciences careers in the context of the hospital practices. Although it is true at the undergraduate level it is possible to opt for alternative teaching-learning strategies, it is evident that learning alongside the patient is not entirely substitutable. In Costa Rica this affectation drastically extends to the year of university internship, which has not yet been fully resumed in the country's public hospitals despite the fact that there is evidence of low transmission of the virus in health personnel and their relatives. These hospitals are the main rotation centers for health sciences students nationwide. The epidemiological behavior of the pandemic tends to decrease, the interns have been trained and protocols have been developed for their safe re-entry, so it is considered a propitious moment to resume this important academic process.