Creating a COVID-19 Action Plan for GME Programs

Residency training in the time of COVID-19: A framework for academic medical centers dealing with the pandemic

“…Though setting-specific stakeholders, strategies, and operations may exist, the general objectives and methodical approach described are likely useful to institutional and educational leaders globally. This is supported by recent studies where similar approaches have been instituted [ 10 , 18 ].…”

“…Though setting-specific stakeholders, strategies, and operations may exist, the general objectives and methodical approach described are likely useful to institutional and educational leaders globally. This is supported by recent studies where similar approaches have been instituted [10,18]. As described earlier, centralized, top heavy, streamlined approaches to pandemic response management have been effective in the UAE, which has one of the lowest COVID-19 case fatality rates in the world [19].…”

“…This has left AMCs to determine how to balance increasing demands on medical services while maintaining safe learning environments that provide meaningful educational experiences. Put to task, medical educators worldwide have shared their experiences on the pandemic responses of their respective AMCs with insights primarily falling along three main axes: clinical service provision, preserving resident health, and educational continuity [6][7][8][9][10]. Moreover, an expanding body of literature on innovative educational strategies, trainee perspectives, and personal reflections of educational leaders has further enriched our understanding of the scale and nature of challenges faced by AMC's [11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

“…On the program level, there were several central issues that most programs faced: 1) balancing service and learning needs, 2) educational continuity for trainees while mitigating risk exposure, 3) addressing unique physical and mental health needs spurred by the pandemic, as described by colleagues worldwide [9,10]. Universal efforts such as joint curricular initiatives, leveraging virtual/online learning opportunities, and nimble rotation adjustments were key in maintaining educational continuity.…”

“…The primary limitation of our framework is that it does not address issues raised by health systems faced with ethical concerns of trainee deployment in the pandemic workforce, [ 2 – 5 , 15 ] as this was not relevant in our context. However, other common ethical considerations such as the significant challenges around balancing service and education demands and issues of learning continuity in pandemic conditions are the focal points of the framework presented [ 9 , 10 , 13 , 14 ]. The inability to assess the impact of these interventions on resident performance also presents a challenge.…”