Utilization of the TRAIN Learning Network for Online Disaster Medicine and Public Health Training During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic dramatically accelerated a growing trend toward online and asynchronous education and professional training, including in the disaster medicine and public health sector. This study analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the growth of the TRAIN Learning Network (TRAIN) for the year 2020 and evaluated pandemic-related changes in use patterns by disaster and public health professionals. METHODS: The TRAIN database was queried to determine the change in the number of registered users, total courses completed, and courses completed related to COVID-19 during 2020. RESULTS: In 2020, a total of 755,222 new users joined the platform - nearly 3 times the average added annually over the preceding 5 y (2015-2019). TRAIN users completed 3,259,074 training courses in 2020, more than double the average number of training courses that were completed annually from 2015-2019. In addition, 17.8% of all newly added disaster and public health training courses in 2020 were specifically related to COVID-19. CONCLUSION: Online education provided by TRAIN is a critical tool for just-in-time disaster health training following a disaster event or public health emergency, including in a global health crisis such as a pandemic.

Ingested Foreign Body Migration to the Liver: An Unusual Cause of Persistent Abdominal Pain in a 54-Year-Old Female.

Abdominal pain is a common presentation in emergency medicine. We describe the case of a 54-year-old female who presented to the emergency department due to worsening abdominal pain. She had a history of right upper quadrant (RUQ) abdominal pain that had been ongoing for several months. The pain had been thought by the primary care team to be related to gastritis and she had been prescribed a proton pump inhibitor (PPI). Her abdominal pain increased in the three days prior to her presentation to the emergency department (ED). The computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen showed a foreign body (FB) in the liver which was successfully removed surgically. Pathology results showed that the FB was consistent with a small bone fragment. Ingestions of FB are common but seldom result in complications. When complications do arise, perforation of a hollow viscous is typically seen. Rarely, transmigration of the FB can occur.