Recruitment and Retention of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Physicians: A Report from the ASTCT Talent Acquisition Task Force

A shortage of transplant and cellular therapy (TCT) physicians is expected given the expansion of TCT indications and the scope of practice of TCT programs in recent years. American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT) conducted a survey of early career transplant physicians and trainees to assess the factors that prompted them to pursue to career in TCT. This was a cross-sectional survey conducted via emails sent to the ASTCT membership. Fifty-nine respondents completed the survey. The vast majority of respondents decided to pursue a career in TCT during their hematology/oncology fellowship (41%), followed by during residency (25%) or medical school (18%), and a majority of them had some exposure to TCT in their clinical training already. The most common reason for choosing to specialize in TCT was interest in the clinical practice of TCT (81%) closely followed by the scientific allure of the field (75%). Most respondents were extremely committed to remaining in this field of practice. We found that those in the field report high levels of satisfaction despite factors that would otherwise predispose them to burnout. A systematic and sustained effort to promote trainee engagement that could result in improved recruitment and retention in the field of TCT is needed. Professional societies in partnership with educational institutions could conduct outreach and help attract trainees from diverse backgrounds.

Guidelines on COVID-19 vaccination in patients with immune-mediated rheumatic diseases: a Brazilian Society of Rheumatology task force

Objective

To provide guidelines on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination in patients with immune-mediated rheumatic diseases (IMRD) to rheumatologists considering specific scenarios of the daily practice based on the shared-making decision (SMD) process.

Methods

A task force was constituted by 24 rheumatologists (panel members), with clinical and research expertise in immunizations and infectious diseases in immunocompromised patients, endorsed by the Brazilian Society of Rheumatology (BSR), to develop guidelines for COVID-19 vaccination in patients with IMRD. A consensus was built through the Delphi method and involved four rounds of anonymous voting, where five options were used to determine the level of agreement (LOA), based on the Likert Scale: (1) strongly disagree; (2) disagree, (3) neither agree nor disagree (neutral); (4) agree; and (5) strongly agree. Nineteen questions were addressed and discussed via teleconference to formulate the answers. In order to identify the relevant data on COVID-19 vaccines, a search with standardized descriptors and synonyms was performed on September 10th, 2021, of the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, ClinicalTrials.gov, and LILACS to identify studies of interest. We used the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale to assess the quality of nonrandomized studies.

Results

All the nineteen questions-answers (Q&A) were approved by the BSR Task Force with more than 80% of panelists voting options 4—agree—and 5—strongly agree—, and a consensus was reached. These Guidelines were focused in SMD on the most appropriate timing for IMRD patients to get vaccinated to reach the adequate covid-19 vaccination response.

Conclusion

These guidelines were developed by a BSR Task Force with a high LOA among panelists, based on the literature review of published studies and expert opinion for COVID-19 vaccination in IMRD patients. Noteworthy, in the pandemic period, up to the time of the review and the consensus process for this document, high-quality evidence was scarce. Thus, it is not a substitute for clinical judgment.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s42358-022-00234-7.

Lessons learned from safe tracheostomy aftercare taskforce implemented during COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, our institution instituted a Safe Tracheostomy Aftercare Taskforce (STAT) team to care for the influx of patients undergoing tracheostomies. This review was undertaken to understand this team's impact on outcomes of tracheostomy care.

Methods

We compared retrospective data collected from patients undergoing tracheostomies at our institution from February to June 2019, prior to creation of the STAT team, to prospectively collected data from tracheostomies performed from February to June 2020, while the STAT team was in place and performed statistical analysis on outcomes of care such as decannulation prior to discharge, timely tube change, and post-discharge follow-up.

Results

We found that the STAT team significantly increased rate of decannulation prior to discharge (P < 0.0005), performance of timely trach tube change when indicated (P < 0.05), and rates of follow-up for tracheostomy patients after discharge from the hospital (P < 0.0005).

Conclusion

The positive impact of the STAT team on outcomes of patient care such as decannulation prior to discharge, timely tube change, and post-discharge follow-up makes a strong case for its continuation even in non-pandemic times.

Quality in Endoscopy

Quality improvement is a dynamic process that requires continuously monitoring quality indicators and benchmarking these with national and professional standards. Endoscopists have formed societal task forces to propose quality indicators and performance goals. Institutions are now incentivized by payers and value-based reimbursement agreements to have processes in place to measure, report, and act on these quality metrics. Nationwide registries, such as the Gastrointestinal Quality Improvement Consortium, are used to report quality data to these merit-based incentive payment systems. Quality improvement processes such as these are instrumental to improve patient safety, health, and satisfaction while decreasing costs and medical errors.

Guidelines for the Laboratory Diagnosis of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus in Korea

The recent outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in Korea was unexpected that laboratory response had to be built up urgently during the outbreak. The outbreak was almost all healthcare-associated, which was aggravated by lack of availability in laboratory diagnosis of MERS-CoV on site. On behalf of the MERS joint public and private sector response committee (MERS Joint committee), the Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine (KSLM) launched a MERS response task force (MERS KSLM TF) to facilitate clinical laboratories set up MERS molecular diagnosis. MERS TF established guidelines for laboratory diagnosis of MERS-CoV and provided it to all participating laboratories as the official guidance of MERS Joint committee. This guideline was used for procedure manual of molecular diagnosis of MERS-CoV and laboratory safety manual.

Capitalizing on Community Resources to Build Specialized Behavioral Health Services Together with Persons who are Deaf, Deafblind or Hard of Hearing

There are relatively few counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers who specialize in serving people who are Deaf, Deafblind or hard of hearing in the United States. Professionals that serve minority populations are often an insular group. They tend to network most often with fellow professionals who understand the language and cultural needs of their service population. Such specialized behavioral health providers rarely have the opportunity to interface with "mainstream" program planners, funders and administrators. Consequently, new recovery agendas, best practice models and community reintegration ideas are only slowly integrated into the care of persons who are Deaf, Deafblind or hard of hearing. We describe the development and implementation of a task force comprised of "front line" providers, administrators, county government officials, advocates and consumers that has made strides toward effective change in a local behavioral health care system. Methods employed, successes, barriers and other reflections on the task force's efforts also are described.