All aspects of medical education were affected by the Novel Coronavirus Infectious Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. Several challenges were experienced by trainees and programs alike due to the economic repercussions of the pandemic, how social distancing affected the delivery of medical education, testing and interviewing, how the surge of patients affected redeployment of personnel, potential compromise in core training and the overall impact on the wellness and mental health of trainees and educators. The ability of medical teams and researchers to peer review, conduct clinical research and keep up with literature was similarly challenged by the rapid growth in peer-review and pre-print literature. We review these challenges and share strategies that institutions, educators and learners adopted, adapted and developed to provide quality education during these unprecedented times.

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Sepsis in patients with cirrhosis is associated with high mortality. An impaired immune response accounts for the increased infection risk observed in these patients. Hemodynamic and systemic changes suggestive of sepsis may be observed in patients with cirrhosis in the absence of infection; therefore, diagnosis and treatment of sepsis may be delayed. The optimal management of the critically ill patient with sepsis and cirrhosis has not been well established and is generally extrapolated from consensus guidelines and expert recommendations made for management of patients without cirrhosis with sepsis. Despite the lack of strong evidence, we propose a contemporary pragmatic approach to sepsis management in patients with cirrhosis, including the choice of fluids, vasopressors, and antibiotics.

The aim of this review was to evaluate evidence for the use of antibiotic prophylaxis in patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy. We systematically reviewed MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and other major databases and included any study that reported rates of infection and whether antibiotic prophylaxis was a part of therapy for patients receiving ECMO. We abstracted rates of infection, microbiology of isolates, prophylactic practices, and individual study inclusion and exclusion criteria. Among 11 studies identified, rates of infection were fairly uniform regardless of prophylaxis use, and the only two studies that directly compared outcomes with and without prophylaxis found no benefit. The causative infectious organisms were heterogeneous, which gives no clear rationale for any particular prophylactic strategy. Although infections during ECMO are serious complications that must be prevented, there is no good evidence to support routine use of prophylactic antibiotics in most patients. Certain subpopulations, such as those with open chests, may have an indication for prophylaxis, but evidence is poor. Future studies should investigate the role of other approaches to infection prevention, such as chlorhexidine bathing and preferential elective cannulation.

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