National Student Response Network (NSRN)

As COVID-19 continues to spread across the U.S., hospitals and public health departments are faced with continual challenges in their responses. Namely, critical staff and PPE shortages threaten to derail the efforts of healthcare workers. Some states like Maryland and California have begun to call on medical, nursing, and physician assistant students to join state health corps and support the healthcare system. While many academic medical centers have access to robust student networks to support their systems in a variety of ways, many hospitals around the nation lack these resources. Moreover, students themselves are largely spread around the nation away from their institutions during this time, eager to help but uncertain how or where to best provide aid. The National Student Response Network (NSRN) aims to field the volunteer needs of hospitals and public health departments and match them with nearby health professions students who are eager to help their communities. The thousands of health professions students that have been sent home from their institutions and can be a great resource to support their communities. NSRN is mobilizing our growing network of students in a way that is both impactful, and appropriate, to do just that. NSRNHealth.org has over 4000 students with medical students of all levels as well as nursing and physician assistant students and includes volunteers in every U.S. state.