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Objective Little is known regarding the specific ways personal protective equipment (PPE) has been used and reused during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. The objective of this study was to evaluate the patterns of PPE use and the impact of PPE availability on the attitudes and well‐being of an international population of healthcare workers. Methods This was an online, cross‐sectional survey of healthcare workers. The survey was disseminated internationally using social media, specialty society list‐serves, and email augmented by snowball sampling to healthcare workers who provided direct care to patients with suspected or confirmed COVID‐19. The survey was conducted between April 13 and May 1, 2020. The primary outcome was self‐reported PPE use during aerosol‐generating medical procedures. Other outcomes included PPE use during care for respiratory patients in general, PPE reuse, PPE decontamination, and healthcare worker impressions related to their work and the pandemic. Results A total of 2227 healthcare workers from 23 countries completed the survey. The N95 was the most common respirator among the 1451 respondents who performed aerosol‐generating procedures (n = 1050, 72.3%). Overall, 1783 (80.1%) of providers reported general reuse of PPE, which was similar across US regions but less common in Canada, Italy, and Spain. The most commonly reused item of PPE was the N95 respirator, with the majority of respondents who reused PPE reporting N95 reuse (n = 1157, 64.9%). Of the 1050 individuals who wore an N95 mask while performing an aerosol‐generating medical procedure, 756 (72%) reported re‐using an N95, and 344 (45.5%) reported reuse for >3 days. Qualitative results identified several common themes, including (1) lack of availability of PPE, (2) fear and anxiety as a result of inadequate PPE, (3) potential exposure to family members, and (4) concerns regarding workload and pay. Conclusions This international survey of healthcare workers found that N95 respirators were commonly used to care for patients with respiratory symptoms with and without aerosol‐generating medical procedures. Healthcare workers reported an unprecedented need to reuse PPE that was designed for single‐use, specifically the N95 respirator. The reuse of PPE increased the perceived risk for COVID‐19 infection and harmed mental health.

Research experience provides critical training for new biomedical research scientists. Students from underrepresented populations studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are increasingly recruited into research pathways to diversify STEM fields. However, support structures outside of research settings designed to help these students navigate biomedical research pathways are not always available; nor are program support components outside the context of laboratory technical skills training and formal mentorship well understood. This study leveraged a multi-institutional research training program, Enhancing Cross-Disciplinary Infrastructure and Training at Oregon (EXITO), to explore how nine institutions designed a new curricular structure (Enrichment) to meet a common goal of enhancing undergraduate research training and student success. EXITO undergraduates participated in a comprehensive, 3-year research training program with the Enrichment component offered across nine sites: three universities and six community colleges, highly diverse in size, demographics, and location. Sites’ approaches to supporting students in the training program were studied over a 30-month period. All sites independently created their own nonformal curricular structures, implemented interprofessionally via facilitated peer groups. Site data describing design and implementation were thematically coded to identify essential programmatic components across sites, with student feedback used to triangulate findings. Enrichment offered students time to critically reflect on their interests, experiences, and identities in research; network with peers and professionals; and support negotiation of hidden and implicit curricula. Students reported the low-pressure setting and student-centered curriculum balanced the high demands associated with academics and research. Core curricular themes described Enrichment as fostering a sense of community among students, exposing students to career paths and skills, and supporting development of students’ professional identities. The non-formal, interprofessional curricula enabled students to model diverse biomedical identities and pathways for each other while informing institutional structures to improve diverse undergraduate students’ success in academia and research.

Purpose Measuring the efficiency of resource allocation for the conduct of scientific projects in medical research is difficult due to, among other factors, the heterogeneity of resources supplied (e.g., dollars or FTEs) and outcomes expected (e.g., grants, publications). While this is an issue in medical science, it has been approached successfully in other fields by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). DEA has a number of advantages over other techniques as it simultaneously uses multiple heterogeneous inputs and outputs to determine which projects are performing most efficiently, referred to as being at the efficiency frontier, when compared to others in the data set. Method This research uses DEA for the evaluation of supported translational science projects by the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute (OCTRI), a NCATS Clinical & Translational Science Award (CTSA) recipient. Results These results suggest that the primary determinate of overall project efficiency at OCTRI is the amount of funding, with smaller amounts of funding providing more efficiency than larger funding amounts. Conclusion These results, and the use of DEA, highlight both the success of using this technique in helping determine medical research efficiency and those factors to consider when distributing funds for new projects at CTSAs.