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grand rounds, and other trainee educational meetings that constitute the traditional media of didactic teaching have been replaced by online virtual meetings, the effectiveness of which remain to be seen.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.