Training and Education
The COVID-19 pandemic also has significant impact on our training
programs. The reduction of non-COVID19 care across the board will have a
yet-to-be measured impact on the clinical and surgical training for
residents and fellows. Major head and neck oncologic surgery training is
usually allocated to senior residents and fellows. In a year when major
head and neck oncologic surgery is drastically reduced for 3-4 months
and non-surgical therapy is favored, the impact on surgical training
could be significant. How will we make up for this deficit? Will
surgical video demonstrations or simulations prove adequate to replace
hands-on real-life surgery? Tumor boards, weekly teaching rounds,
monthly grand rounds, and other trainee educational meetings that
constitute the traditional media of didactic teaching have been replaced
by online virtual meetings, the effectiveness of which remain to be
seen. Local, regional, national, and international educational
conferences, symposia, and hands-on courses that are the hallmark of
continuing medical education have been postponed or cancelled. Board
examination, residency and fellowship application, interviews, and
selection are being rescheduled or alternative ways of executing them
are being explored. The effects of such changes on training and
education remain unknown.
On the other hand, trainees who currently are integral members of the
health care response to this global pandemic are likely to acquire
skills that they would have otherwise not gained. Emergency
preparedness, crisis management, and front-line life-saving clinical
expertise are some examples of such skills. In some parts of the world,
including some regions in the United States, fourth-year medical
students will act as interns, senior residents will assume fellows
responsibilities, and fellows may have to be appointed as independent
practitioners. I have no doubt they will rise to the occasion. They
always do.