The Potential Impact of COVID-19 on the Medical School Application

The Impact of COVID-19 on Trainees: Lessons Learned and Unanticipated Opportunities

Dr. Emanuel Martin Papper was a Professor and Department Chair at Columbia University whose top passion was training the next generation of anesthesiologists. As such, a fitting topic for discussion at Columbia University Department of Anesthesiology's Papper Symposium was the "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trainees: Lessons Learned and Unanticipated Opportunities," presented by Dr. Roberta L. Hines, Nicholas M. Greene Professor of Anesthesiology and Department Chair and Chief of Anesthesiology at Yale-New Haven Hospital. The pandemic led to abrupt changes at the national, hospital, and training program levels, all of which impacted trainees in anesthesiology and other disciplines. Nationally, there were sweeping regulatory changes that helped to shape the coronavirus disease-2019 response by medical front line workers. At each individual hospital, coronavirus disease-2019 units were created and teams were restructured to keep up with patient care demands. Educational programs adapted their curricula and trainees lost valuable clinical and academic opportunities. The innovative educational responses, including a pivot to virtual learning and virtual recruitment, provided a silver lining to the health care crisis. Another bright spot was that anesthesiology as a specialty rose to the forefront of patient care. Anesthesiologists displayed impactful leadership during the pandemic, paving the way for future growth and broadened reach of our specialty.

National Pediatric Experience With Virtual Interviews: Lessons Learned and Future Recommendations

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic significantly impacted undergraduate and graduate medical education and created challenges that prevented a traditional approach to residency and fellowship recruitment and interviews. Early in the pandemic, the pediatric education community came together to support applicants and training programs and to foster an equitable recruitment process. We describe many of our community's innovations, including the use of virtual cafés to educate programs and highlight best practices for virtual recruitment and the use of regional webinars to highlight residency programs and provide information to applicants. Surveys of applicants and programs suggest that the virtual interview process worked well overall, with applicants and programs saving both time and money and programs maintaining a high rate of filling their positions. On the basis of this experience, we highlight the strengths and weaknesses of 3 potential models for future interview seasons. We close with a series of questions that need further investigation to create an effective and equitable recruitment process for the future.