Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Wellbeing of International Oncology and Hematology Fellows at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center (PMCC).

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant disruptions across all levels of medical training. International fellows in subspecialty training programs are essential members of the frontline physician workforce, but may face additional and unique challenges as a result of being away from their home country. In this study, we aimed to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the wellbeing of international fellows in the Hematology and/or Oncology fellowship program at the PMCC. METHODS: In collaboration with our staff psychiatrist, we conducted an online survey of hematology and/or oncology fellows at the PMCC from July 6 to August 10, 2020. The survey consisted of 60 questions divided into 4 sections: demographics, wellbeing assessment using the validated Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS), fellowship specific questions (personal and professional) and coping strategies using the validated brief COPE scale. RESULTS: Overall 24/52 (46%) fellows completed the survey: 21/24 were international fellows with 48% from Asia, 3/24 were Canadian fellows but away from home; 54% were male; 48% were aged 31-35 years; 65% were married, 48% had children. Mean SWEMWBS score was 21, indicating lower overall wellbeing than the general population who had a score of 23.6. Compared to their pre-COVID status, many reported a decline in their wellbeing (63%), sense of guilt for not being with their family (45%) or helping their country (41%), stress in personal relationships (26%), fatigue (50%), sleep disorders (38%) and loss of interest in daily activities (38%). Personal events were altered by almost 80%; and 20% planned to extend their fellowship. According to the Brief-COPE scale, during the pandemic, most fellows used more adaptive coping mechanisms (mean score 39.2) as opposed to maladaptive ones (mean score 21.8). CONCLUSIONS: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the overall wellbeing of international fellows. Understanding the specific challenges and coping mechanisms used by international fellows may help institutions develop better targeted strategies to promote wellbeing, professional development and ensure high-quality patient care during unprecedented times like the COVID pandemic.

Impact of COVID-19 on Hematology-Oncology Trainees: A Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment.

PURPOSE: Graduate medical and research training has drastically changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, with widespread implementation of virtual learning, redeployment from core rotations to the care of patients with COVID-19, and significant emotional and physical stressors. The specific experience of hematology-oncology (HO) fellows during the COVID-19 pandemic is not known. METHODS: We conducted a mixed-methods study using a survey of Likert-style and open-ended questions to assess the training experience and well-being of HO fellows, including both clinical and postdoctoral trainee members of the American Society of Hematology and ASCO. RESULTS: A total of 2,306 surveys were distributed by e-mail; 548 (23.8%) fellows completed the survey. Nearly 40% of fellows felt that they had not received adequate mental health support during the pandemic, and 22% reported new symptoms of burnout. Pre-existing burnout before the pandemic, COVID-19-related clinical work, and working in a primary research or nonclinical setting were associated with increased burnout on multivariable logistic regression. Qualitative thematic analysis of open-ended responses revealed significant concerns about employment after training completion, perceived variable quality of virtual education and board preparation, loss of clinical opportunities to prepare for independent clinical practice, inadequate grant funding opportunities in part because of shifting research priorities, variable productivity, and mental health or stress during the pandemic. CONCLUSION: HO fellows have been profoundly affected by the pandemic, and our data illustrate multiple avenues for fellowship programs and national organizations to support both clinical and postdoctoral trainees.

Future of Education or Present Reality?

CONTEXT.­: The main focus of education in most pathology residency and subspecialty pathology fellowships is the light microscopic examination of pathology specimens. Classes with multiheaded scopes are the most popular among pathology trainees. Until recently, it was difficult to imagine that this educational approach could change. In the beginning of March 2020, our country faced a serious challenge, which all of us now know as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The rules of social distancing and work from home were applied. These types of restrictions were implemented in almost all parts of our life, including work and pathology education. OBJECTIVE.­: To share our experience in the Department of Hematopathology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center during the COVID-19 pandemic. We describe our experience in modifying our approaches to education. We show how we overcame many obstacles to learning by building one of the largest virtual hematopathology educational platforms via Cisco WebEx and using social media, in particular Twitter. These tools facilitated the learning of hematopathology by medical students, pathology trainees, and practicing pathologists from all over the world. DATA SOURCES.­: During the first 3 months of the pandemic (April, May, and June, 2020), we evaluated the visitor attendance to the MD Anderson Cancer Center Hematopathology Virtual Educational Platform using data collected by the Cisco WebEx Web site. To determine the impact that the platform had on medical education for the hematopathology community on Twitter, the analytic metrics obtained from Symplur LLC (www.symplur.com, April 27, 2020) were used via its Symplur Signals program. CONCLUSIONS.­: Our experience using the MD Anderson Hematopathology Virtual Platform showed that there is substantial global interest and desire for virtual hematopathology education, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Forming the Hematology-Oncology Collaborative Videoconferencing (CO-VID) Learning Initiative: Experiential Lessons Learned From a Novel Trainee-Led Multidisciplinary Virtual Learning Platform.

PURPOSE: COVID-19 challenged medical practice and graduate medical education. Building on previous initiatives, we describe and reflect on the formative process and goals of the Hematology-Oncology Collaborative Videoconferencing Learning Initiative, a trainee-led multi-institutional virtual COVID-19 learning model. METHODS: Clinical fellows and faculty from 13 US training institutions developed consensus needs, goals, and objectives, recruited presenters, and generated a multidisciplinary COVID-19 curriculum. Weekly Zoom conferences consisted of two trainee-led instructional segments and a trainee-moderated faculty Q&A panel. Hematology-oncology training program faculty and trainees were the targeted audience. Leadership evaluations consisted of anonymized baseline and concluding mixed methods surveys. Presenter evaluations consisted of session debriefs and two structured focus groups. Conference evaluations consisted of attendance, demographics, and pre- or postmultiple-choice questions on topic learning objectives. RESULTS: In 6 weeks, the initiative produced five conferences: antivirals, anticoagulation, pulmonology, provider resilience, and resource scarcity ethics. The average attendance was 100 (range 57-185). Among attendees providing both pre- and postconference data, group-level knowledge appeared to increase: antiviral (n = 46) pre-/postcorrect 82.6%/97.8% and incorrect 10.9%/2.2%, anticoagulation (n = 60) pre-/postcorrect 75%/93.3% and incorrect 15%/6.7%, and pulmonary (n = 21) pre-/postcorrect 66.7%/95.2% and incorrect 33.3%/4.8%. Although pulmonary management comfort appeared to increase, comfort managing of antivirals and anticoagulation was unchanged. At the conclusion of the pilot, leadership trainees reported improved self-confidence organizing multi-institutional collaborations, median (interquartile range) 58.5 (50-64) compared with baseline 34 (26-39), but did not report improved confidence in other educational or leadership skills. CONCLUSION: During crisis, trainees built a multi-institutional virtual education platform for the purposes of sharing pandemic experiences and knowledge. Accomplishment of initiative goals was mixed. Lessons learned from the process and goals may improve future disaster educational initiatives.

COVID-19 has changed the way we think about training future pediatric hematologists/oncologists.

COVID-19 has upended medical practice and education, but has also catalyzed enhancements in the field. Early on, a local group of researchers united to investigate the impact of the pandemic on pediatric hematology oncology (PHO). From this group, a regional educational series was established, "virtual-Symposium of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology of New York" (v-SYMPHONY). The implementation of these endeavors while PHO fellowship applications are declining has highlighted our perceptions that education, mentoring, and career expectations are not keeping up with the needs of current trainees. We describe our regional experience joining together to further education and research, and reflect on the current landscape of PHO training and workforce.

Next-Generation Scholarship: Rebranding Hematopathology Using Twitter: The MD Anderson Experience.

Hematopathologists are witnessing very exciting times, as a new era of unsurpassed technological advances is unfolding exponentially, enhancing our understanding of diseases at the genomic and molecular levels. In the evolving field of precision medicine, our contributions as hematopathologists to medical practice are of paramount importance. Social media platforms such as Twitter have helped facilitate and enrich our professional  interactions and collaborations with others in our field and in other medical disciplines leading to a more holistic approach to patient care. These platforms also have created a novel means for instantaneous dissemination of new findings and recent publications, and are proving to be increasingly useful tools that can be harnessed to expand our knowledge and amplify our presence in the medical community. In this Editorial, we share our experience as hematopathologists with Twitter, and how we leveraged this platform to boost scholarly activities within and beyond our subspecialty, and as a powerful medium for worldwide dissemination of educational material and to promote our remote teaching activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Medical Hematology/Oncology Fellows' Perceptions of Online Medical Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In response to the COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, residency and fellowship programs transitioned to virtual instruction to deliver didactics and continue with medical education. The efficacy of such a fully online learning environment, however, remains unknown. To investigate its impact on medical education, this study surveyed hematology/oncology fellows at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on their attitudes regarding the online-based lecture program. Fellows were emailed a 19-question survey with questions on demographics, ease of technical access to the online platform, level of comfort with participation, knowledge acquisition, wellness, and COVID-19-specific coverage. A free-text question soliciting ways to improve upon online learning was also included. The response rate was 71% (30/42). Most respondents reported easy/very easy accessibility to the online environment. Seventy-seven percent of the participants did not experience a technical issue. Seventy percent felt comfortable/very comfortable with participating in the conference. Thirty-seven percent felt comfortable/very comfortable with actively offering an answer to questions during the interactive board review session. Eighty-seven percent would have been more willing to offer an answer during the board review session if an anonymous poll format was utilized. Sixty-three percent felt they learned the same amount as they typically do during an in-person session. Thirty-three percent reported they were less focused as compared with an in-person session. One hundred percent of the participants had their questions answered, either at all times (87%) or sometimes (13%). Sixty percent experienced a change in social interactions as compared with an in-person session. Fifty-four percent reported that it was easy/very to balance online attendance despite personal/family commitments. One hundred percent appreciated the flexibility of the online learning environment. Ninety percent felt safer at home attending these lectures compared with receiving these lectures in-person during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, most fellows felt comfortable with the transition to a fully online learning environment. Strategies to encourage active participation, enhance social interaction, and provide additional flexibility are still needed.

Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Emergency Restructuring in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic-Henry Ford Hospital, Michigan.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc and created challenges in various subspecialty training programs, including hematology/oncology fellowship programs. The challenge of social distancing, providing care for those infected by COVID-19, continuing appropriate treatment of time-sensitive diseases, and the looming threat of health care worker infections required swift planning and restructuring of training programs. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education provided leeway to tackle the challenges faced by institutions and training programs in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, there is no established guideline specific to hematology and oncology fellowship programs. While understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all, shared experiences can assist training programs to incorporate best practices and customize their programs to provide an active educational environment that balances patient care needs, didactics, scholarly activities, and wellbeing during the process of rapid changes and adaptation. We share our hematology/oncology fellowship program's restructuring approach in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.