One Residency Program’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Educational Experiences Gained

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ball C ; Khademi S ; Moore K ; Nessim D
• Description:
  On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China. The causative agent, a novel coronavirus, was isolated in early January, and its genome shared by mid-January. The WHO declared the virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020 and a pandemic on March 11, 2020. This was followed by a national emergency declaration in the United States on March 13, 2020. This report highlights the effect this crisis had on a residency program, and how lessons learned may impact the future of graduate medical education. The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (UTHSCT), located in a somewhat rural region in Northeast Texas, has a long history of training residents in primary care and occupational and environmental medicine (OEM). The OEM residency is one of approximately 23 similar programs in the nation. It is a preventive medicine specialty devoted to prevention and management of occupational and environmental injury, illness, and disability as well as promotion of health and productivity of workers, their families, and communities. The UTHSCT's response to the pandemic was first initiated on March 5, 2020. Initial steps included: formulating protocols for business travel and return-to-work, updating infection prevention protocols, and implementing strategies to increase hospital capacity. As the crisis continued to evolve, the residents' educational activities were disrupted due to altered or cancelled clinical activities, reformatted Master of Public Health (MPH) classes, and travel bans to previously approved conferences, courses, and meetings. The OEM residents were incorporated in the emergency response from the beginning by their involvement in assisting the community and the hospital in the pandemic response, which provided a unique educational opportunity in occupational medicine and public health during a crisis. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Education Emergencies Health Personnel Occupational Health Public Health Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Coronavirus COVID-19 Emergency Response Infectious Diseases Occupational Medicine Programs Physicians Public Health Training
• ISSN:
  2574-5859
• Publisher:
  Texas Public Health Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  12-14
• Volume:
  72
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20063957
• Citation:
  Tex Public Health J 2020 Fall; 72(4):12-14
• Contact Point Address:
  Dalia Nessim, MD, PhD, MPH, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, TX
• Email:
  dalia.nessim@uthct.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• Performing Organization:
  University of Texas Health Center - Tyler
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20070701
• Source Full Name:
  Texas Public Health Journal
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a9afe4e71d706f64b86e601bedd3a5cf267f14768ab83b8cc0a32bf866a723ae9de4ef45b0f8e15a2129d6898e0a7d95bb319885afab647d555dae9f4a0bf2dd
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/222489/cdc_222489_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 443.07 KB ]