Residency and Fellowship Program Accreditation: Effects of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic

Abstract

The “normal” daily, weekly, monthly, and annual schedules planned by programs, which were to be in effect at this time, have been severely affected. This is certainly true in Seattle, New York City, and other cities in the vanguard of the pandemic, but it is also true in cities that have, so far, a relatively low incidence of the disease. Elective cases normally done by residents/fellows have been postponed or cancelled.¹ COVID-19: Recommendations for management of elective surgical procedures. https://www.facs.org/covid-19/clinical-guidance/elective-surgery Date accessed: March 25, 2020 Google Scholar Clinic and office visits have been severely curtailed or eliminated. Surgical fellows are being, or will be, deployed as attending physicians in their core specialties. Residents and fellows have been, or will be, placed on rotating shifts, both consistent with current clinical demands for surgical services and to minimize their exposure to the virus. Residents and fellows have been, or will be, deployed as primary care doctors in screening facilities, emergency rooms, and medical wards, or to supplement the physician force in medical critical care units. Because of both clinical demands and the need for “social distancing,” clinical and educational conferences are being held remotely, if at all. It is, or soon will be, impossible in many instances for programs to evaluate residents/fellows in anything approaching the normal curriculum of the specialty/subspecialty. Residents, fellows, and attending surgeons are being, and will be, sidelined by quarantine due to exposure to the virus or recovering from SARS COV2 infections themselves. Although to date, none have been reported, there will predictably be deaths of surgical residents, fellows, and attendings as a result of SARS COV2 infections acquired in performing their clinical duties.