ABSTRACT
Like COVID-19, new infectious disease outbreaks emerge almost annually, and studies predict that this trend will continue due to a variety of factors, including an aging population, ease of travel, and globalization of the economy. In response to episodic public health crises, governments and organizations develop, implement, and enforce policies, procedures, protocols, and programs. The epidemiological triad is both a model of disease causation and fundamentally used to design and deploy such control measures. Here we adapt this model to the workplace setting and use the epidemiological triad to characterize the related ethical challenges in implementing the control measures employers face as a guide for a workplace intervention framework. Through this approach, our aim is to show how an integrated ethical framework, grounded in epidemiological principles, has important implications for how we categorize, understand, and resolve the difficult decisions that emerge in the workplace under pandemic conditions. © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for Business Ethics.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: COVID-19 altered the landscape of medical education, disrupting the general surgery residency application process. Decreased access to clinical rotations, limited access to in-person mentors, and lack of in-person interviews, highlighted the need for mentorship programs. We examined the impact of virtual mentoring following the implementation of a novel program for trainees entering the field of general surgery. Methods: We designed an exclusively online virtual mentoring program that focused on an individualized, tailored approach in five domains: requesting letters of support, personal statement composition, resume editing, interview skills, and residency program ranking. Immediately following completion of the program, a nineteen-question electronic survey was administered. Results: 18 out of 19 participants completed the survey. Following the completion of the program participants were more confident in all five domains targeted by the program when responding to survey stems (5-point Likert scale (5-strongly agree)). Utility of the program, likelihood to recommend, and likelihood to participate again in virtual mentoring were all positive 5 [4-5]. Respondents reported less concern about the impact of COVID-19 on the application cycle. Trainees reported that virtual mentoring is likely to play an increasingly important role in training programs 5[4-5]. Participants also reported an increased confidence in the match, with a pre-program median of 67 [50 - 65] and post-program median of 84 [75-91] (0.004). Conclusion: Virtual mentoring tailored for medical students entering the match is well received and increases participant confidence. This data should be used as a framework to expand and develop virtual mentoring programs.
ABSTRACT
Intra-operative aerosol-generating procedures are arguably unavoidable in the routine provision of thoracic anaesthesia. Airway management for such patients during the COVID-19 pandemic including tracheal intubation, lung isolation, one-lung ventilation and flexible bronchoscopy may pose a significant risk to healthcare professionals and patients. That said, there remains a need for timely thoracic surgery for patients with lung cancer or thoracic trauma. The thoracic anaesthetic community has been confronted with the need to modify existing techniques to maximise safety for patients and healthcare professionals. With appropriate modification, aerosol generation may be mitigated against in most circumstances. We developed a set of practice-based recommendations for airway management in thoracic surgical patients, which have been endorsed by the Association for Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia and Critical Care and the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain and Ireland.