The Impact of COVID-19 on Trainees: Lessons Learned and Unanticipated Opportunities.

Dr. Emanuel Martin Papper was a Professor and Department Chair at Columbia University whose top passion was training the next generation of anesthesiologists. As such, a fitting topic for discussion at Columbia University Department of Anesthesiology's Papper Symposium was the "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trainees: Lessons Learned and Unanticipated Opportunities," presented by Dr. Roberta L. Hines, Nicholas M. Greene Professor of Anesthesiology and Department Chair and Chief of Anesthesiology at Yale-New Haven Hospital. The pandemic led to abrupt changes at the national, hospital, and training program levels, all of which impacted trainees in anesthesiology and other disciplines. Nationally, there were sweeping regulatory changes that helped to shape the coronavirus disease-2019 response by medical front line workers. At each individual hospital, coronavirus disease-2019 units were created and teams were restructured to keep up with patient care demands. Educational programs adapted their curricula and trainees lost valuable clinical and academic opportunities. The innovative educational responses, including a pivot to virtual learning and virtual recruitment, provided a silver lining to the health care crisis. Another bright spot was that anesthesiology as a specialty rose to the forefront of patient care. Anesthesiologists displayed impactful leadership during the pandemic, paving the way for future growth and broadened reach of our specialty.

COVID-19 Impact on Resident Mental Health and Well-Being.

Columbia University's Papper Symposium, a virtual event held on March 20, 2021, was dedicated to the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This article summarizes a lecture by Dr. Roberta Hines, Nicholas M. Greene Professor of Anesthesiology and Department Chair and Chief of Anesthesiology at Yale-New Haven Hospital titled "The impact of COVID-19 on trainees: lessons learned and unanticipated opportunities," in addition draws from experiences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and a focused review of the literature on the toll of the pandemic on trainee well-being and mental health. Early research has demonstrated that rates of burnout and acute stress were higher among health care providers who cared for COVID-19 patients than those who did not and that COVID-19 frontline health care providers are at high risk for common psychological disorders, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Trainees working on the frontlines may be at particularly high risk for these mental health disorders and are less likely to access resources available to them. Program directors and hospital graduate medical education leaders should be aware of the threats to physiological and psychological safety and take action to prevent further detrimental effects. The rates of burnout and mental health disorders among trainees are expected to rise as a result of the pandemic, making screening programs and increased access to mental health treatment an essential feature of all residency and fellowship programs.