Tips for pandemic response planning for Internal Medicine training programs

Abstract

The current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has strained hospital systems and training programs across the world. As capacity issues mount and trainees are called upon to provide frontline medical care, programs and institutions have had to rapidly evolve to redefine the trainee experience. To that end, there is a paucity of literature regarding how healthcare training programs should operate during a global pandemic. Here, we aim to describe twelve evidence-based recommendations for coordinating a cohesive, systematic approach to pandemic response planning for Internal Medicine residency training programs. These tips encompass inpatient and outpatient practices, provider safety, resuscitation, virtual education programming and resident wellbeing. Though many of these considerations or recommendations were not described during the COVID-19 pandemic, these tips have been described previously in the literature, are applicable to the current pandemic and could be easily extrapolated to future crises.

The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Pediatric Physician Wellness: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The American Heart Association, in April 2020, published a statement which called on hospital administrators to “protect medical trainees on the COVID-19 frontlines, or do not send them in [ 2 ]”. Physicians and groups from many specialties, including both surgical and non-surgical, echoed the importance of protecting trainees, both physically and emotionally, from the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 3 , 4 ].…”