Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Respiratory Care Student Enrollment, Retention, and Success on the National Board for Respiratory Care Credentialing Examinations.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether the COVID-19 pandemic and the instructional changes implemented in response to it affected student enrollment, retention, or success on the National Board for Respiratory Care credentialing examinations at an associate degree respiratory care program in the state of Texas. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of student enrollment, retention data, and graduate success rates on the National Board for Respiratory Care credentialing examinations were used in this study. The data were collected from an associate degree respiratory care program in Texas and included 69 graduates for the 5-year study period. The 3 academic years that led up to the COVID-19 pandemic served as a "pre-pandemic" baseline for comparison. The cohort of 2019-2020 was labeled "early pandemic," the cohort of 2020-2021 was labeled "mid pandemic," and the cohort of 2021-2022 was labeled "late pandemic" for data comparison purposes. Descriptive statistics, the Kruskal-Wallis test, and the Mann-Whitney U test were used for data analysis (P < .05). RESULTS: The number of program applicants significantly decreased between the pre- and late-pandemic groups (P = .001), but overall student enrollment (P = .42) and retention (P = .95) were not significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The first-time pass rate on the Therapist Multiple-Choice examination low-cut score (P = .005) and high-cut score (P = .007) were significantly reduced in the mid-pandemic group when compared with the previous cohorts. There were no statistically significant differences in the demographic data or online questionnaire responses from the early- and mid-pandemic groups. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic and the instructional changes implemented in response to it decreased students' first-time pass rate on the Therapist Multiple-Choice examination in the mid-pandemic group compared with the pre- and early-pandemic groups.

Head and neck surgical oncology in the time of a pandemic: Subsite-specific triage guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pandemic has strained human and material resources around the world. Practices in surgical oncology had to change in response to these resource limitations, triaging based on acuity, expected oncologic outcomes, availability of supportive resources, and safety of health care personnel. METHODS: The MD Anderson Head and Neck Surgery Treatment Guidelines Consortium devised the following to provide guidance on triaging head and neck cancer (HNC) surgeries based on multidisciplinary consensus. HNC subsites considered included aerodigestive tract mucosa, sinonasal, salivary, endocrine, cutaneous, and ocular. RECOMMENDATIONS: Each subsite is presented separately with disease-specific recommendations. Options for alternative treatment modalities are provided if surgical treatment needs to be deferred. CONCLUSION: These guidelines are intended to help clinicians caring for patients with HNC appropriately allocate resources during a health care crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to advocate for individual consideration of cases in a multidisciplinary fashion based on individual patient circumstances and resource availability.