Although the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly influenced health care, little is known about its impact on fellowship training in pulmonary and critical care medicine (PCCM). To analyze the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on PCCM fellowship training across the United States, Researchers performed an anonymous poll of PCCM program directors (PDs). The Association of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Program Directors circulated a 30-question web-based survey to PCCM PDs in the United States. 242 PDs received the study, with 28.5% responding. University-based programs provided the majority of the responses (76.8%). PDs reported a decrease in the number of pulmonary function tests (100%), outpatient visits (94.1%), and elective bronchoscopies (94.1%) almost universally (96%). Three-quarters of the PDs (77.6%) said their PCCM fellows spent more time in the intensive care unit than they had planned.
The COVID-19 epidemic has impacted different parts of fellowship training in different ways. The basic components of pulmonary training decreased significantly, but specific areas of critical care training rose, according to PDs. Tailored mitigating measures are likely necessary to ensure no gaps in PCCM training while enhancing well-being.
Reference:www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.34197/ats-scholar.2021-0067OC
