ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, medical schools were forced to adapt clinical curricula. The University of Washington School of Medicine created a hybrid in person and virtual general surgery clerkship. METHODS: The third year general surgery clerkship was modified to a 4-week in person and 2-week virtual clerkship to accommodate the same number of learners in less time. All students completed a survey to assess the impact of the virtual clerkship. RESULTS: The students preferred faculty lectures over national modules in the virtual clerkship. 58.6% indicated they would prefer the virtual component before the in-person experience. There was no change from previous years in final grades or clerkship exam scores after this hybrid curriculum. CONCLUSIONS: If the need for a virtual general surgery curriculum arises again in the future, learners value this experience at the beginning of the clerkship and prefer faculty lectures over national modules.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Clinical Clerkship , Education, Medical, Undergraduate , General Surgery , Students, Medical , COVID-19/epidemiology , Curriculum , General Surgery/education , Humans , PandemicsSubject(s)
COVID-19/epidemiology , Early Detection of Cancer , Lung Neoplasms/diagnosis , SARS-CoV-2 , Aged , Humans , Lung Neoplasms/therapy , Middle Aged , Time-to-TreatmentABSTRACT
The extraordinary demands of managing the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the world's ability to care for patients with thoracic malignancies. As a hospital's COVID-19 population increases and hospital resources are depleted, the ability to provide surgical care is progressively restricted, forcing surgeons to prioritize among their cancer populations. Representatives from multiple cancer, surgical, and research organizations have come together to provide a guide for triaging patients with thoracic malignancies as the impact of COVID-19 evolves as each hospital.
Subject(s)
Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology , Medical Oncology/organization & administration , Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology , Thoracic Neoplasms/surgery , Thoracic Surgery/organization & administration , Triage , Betacoronavirus , COVID-19 , Consensus , Humans , Pandemics , SARS-CoV-2 , Thoracic Surgical ProceduresSubject(s)
Clinical Clerkship/organization & administration , Coronavirus Infections , Education, Medical, Undergraduate/organization & administration , Educational Measurement , General Surgery/education , Pandemics , Pneumonia, Viral , Betacoronavirus , COVID-19 , Clinical Clerkship/standards , Clinical Competence , Education, Medical, Undergraduate/standards , General Surgery/standards , Humans , SARS-CoV-2 , Students, Medical , Time FactorsABSTRACT
The extraordinary demands of managing the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the world's ability to care for patients with thoracic malignancies. As a hospital's COVID-19 population increases and hospital resources are depleted, the ability to provide surgical care is progressively restricted, forcing surgeons to prioritize among their cancer populations. Representatives from multiple cancer, surgical, and research organizations have come together to provide a guide for triaging patients with thoracic malignancies as the impact of COVID-19 evolves as each hospital.
Subject(s)
Betacoronavirus/pathogenicity , Coronavirus Infections/therapy , Delivery of Health Care, Integrated/organization & administration , Pneumonia, Viral/therapy , Thoracic Neoplasms/surgery , Thoracic Surgical Procedures , Triage/organization & administration , COVID-19 , Clinical Decision-Making , Consensus , Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology , Coronavirus Infections/transmission , Coronavirus Infections/virology , Health Services Needs and Demand/organization & administration , Host Microbial Interactions , Humans , Needs Assessment/organization & administration , Occupational Health , Pandemics , Patient Safety , Patient Selection , Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology , Pneumonia, Viral/transmission , Pneumonia, Viral/virology , Risk Assessment , Risk Factors , SARS-CoV-2 , Thoracic Neoplasms/epidemiology , Thoracic Surgical Procedures/adverse effects , Time-to-TreatmentABSTRACT
Seattle, Washington, is an epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic in the United States. In response, the Division of General Surgery at the University of Washington Department of Surgery in Seattle has designed and implemented an emergency restructuring of the facility's general surgery resident care teams in an attempt to optimize workforce well-being, comply with physical distancing requirements, and continue excellent patient care. This article introduces a unique approach to general surgery resident allocation by dividing patient care into separate inpatient care, operating care, and clinic care teams. Separate teams made up of all resident levels will work in each setting for a 1-week period. By creating this emergency structure, we have limited the number of surgery residents with direct patient contact and have created teams working in isolation from one another to optimize physical distancing while still performing required work. This also provides a resident reserve without exposure to the virus, theoretically flattening the curve among our general surgery resident cohort. Surgical resident team restructuring is critical during a pandemic to optimize patient care and ensure the well-being and vitality of the resident workforce while ensuring the entire workforce is not compromised.