ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION There is a paucity of literature evaluating the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on GI fellowship match and fellow recruitment. With the emergence of the COVID- 19 pandemic and institution of travel bans and social distancing, a complete shift towards video conference interview (VCI) was instituted. VCI makes the interview process costeffective and saves time, while potentially increasing existing implicit biases, and creating new biases based on technology. It remains unclear, however, if this had any impact on fellowship programs matching with trainees from outside institutions. One particular concern is whether programs and applicants would prefer to train at their local institutions where they are well-acquainted with the training program, city, and available resources. The objective of our study is to evaluate the impact of VCI on GI trainees' fellowship match rate at their local institutions for the appointment year 2021. METHODS We performed a crosssectional study of all the GI fellowship programs in the United States. Each programs' website was reviewed to identify current fellows' characteristics including where they did their internal medicine residency training. Programs were excluded if there was insufficient information on their website regarding their fellows' prior training experience. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 25. RESULTS We identified a total of 212 US-based GI fellowship programs, 87 of the programs met the exclusion criteria. A total of 125 fellowship programs with 440 fellows were included in the analysis, encompassing 75.3% of the total number of first-year fellows who matched in 2021. A Mann-Whitney test was performed to compare the percentage of residents who matched at their local institution for fellowship training pre-COVID/before the initiation of VCI (class of 2022/2023) and post-COVID (class of 2024). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups: class of 2022/2023 (Mdn=37.5%) and class of 2024 (Mdn=33.3%), U=7245.5, z=-1.001, p= 0.317(Figure 1). DISCUSSION Our study provides crucial information to GI fellowship applicants and fellowship programs, highlighting that employing VCI during the pandemic did not significantly impact GI fellowship applicants' match at either their local program or outside institutions. Moreover, the cost savings from reduced travel and lodging is beneficial to the applicant and may encourage the applicant to apply to more programs than previously feasible. These findings suggest that applicants continue to rank programs where they believe they will receive the best training. GI programs may have also implemented changes including video tours and more comprehensive program presentations that help applicants understand the programs' strengths and weaknesses, as well as available resources which could impact training without their physical presence.(Figure Presented)
ABSTRACT
Background The deaths due to coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Michigan have been disproportionately centered in the city of Detroit. We sought to characterize hospitalized veterans with Covid-19 infection in Detroit, MI and compare them to inpatients previously reported. Methods A retrospective observational study of 79 veterans admitted to a veteran's hospital with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) between March 10, through April 6, 2020. Each patient had at least 30 days of follow-up. Results The median age of 79 enrolled patients was 69.0 years (interquartile range, 57.0-75.0 years) and 74 (94%) were men. Twenty-four (30%) had a recent emergency department visit. Respiratory symptoms were present in 67 (85%). Gastrointestinal symptoms were common (49 [62%]), including diarrhea (27 [34%]) and loss of appetite (31 [39%]). Only 30 (38%) patients had fever on admission. Comorbidities included hypertension (73 [92%]), diabetes (48 [61%]), obesity (42 [53%]), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (30 [38%]), coronary disease (28 [35%]), and obstructive sleep apnea (25 [32%]). Nine patients were admitted to the intensive care unit, and 18 (26%) of 70 required intensive care unit transfer. Twenty-Four (30%) were intubated;of which 3 were extubated and 20 (83%) died. Of the 57 (72%) patients discharged alive, 22 (39%) required supplemental oxygen and 8 (14%) were readmitted within 30 days. Conclusions Detroit veterans were primarily older African American men with more comorbidities than inpatients previously described. Gastrointestinal symptoms were twice as common as fever. Rates of mortality and readmission were higher than those previously reported in populations with shorter follow up. © Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.