Chapters authored
Graduate Medical Education Program Mergers: Key Aspects and Considerations
The recent restructuring of the healthcare reimbursement system has led to financial pressure on all aspects of healthcare delivery. Naturally, this financial pressure will also trickle down to graduate medical education, resulting in mergers of residency programs. Historical examples of residency mergers will be presented and discussed in this chapter. Guidelines for merging residencies will be suggested for those programs undertaking this difficult process. These guidelines will address aspects of organization and leadership, educational philosophies and environment, program goals, culture, interpersonal relationships, communication, day-to-day operations, and finances. Special considerations for program mergers will also be discussed, including cultural differences, medical students, and surgical programs. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the relevancy of this information and important key concepts.
Part of the book: Contemporary Topics in Graduate Medical Education
Virtual Interviewing for Residency/Fellowship during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Virtual interviewing for graduate medical education (GME) had been experimented with on a small scale in the late 2000s and early 2010s, but it became a necessity for the 2020–2021 match season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will briefly discuss the history of virtual interviewing and the published literature on virtual interviewing in GME. Based on the literature and recommendations from various organizations, we address preparation for virtual interviews including special considerations for programs and fellowships. We discuss the pros and cons of virtual interviewing both in order to better understand the current situation and to make informed choices moving forward regarding continuation of virtual interviewing versus returning to in-person interviewing.
Part of the book: Contemporary Topics in Graduate Medical Education
Updates to Thoracic Procedures: Perioperative Care and Anesthetic Considerations
Thoracic surgery is a rapidly evolving field, as is the perioperative and anesthetic care of patients undergoing major thoracic surgery. As surgical techniques continue to evolve, new guidelines are needed to help standardize patient care. To this end, Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols were created and have seen increasingly widespread adoption within the field of thoracic surgery. Despite their name, the scope of these protocols includes not only the postoperative period, but also helps guide care in the preoperative and intraoperative periods. Thus, ERAS pathways are relevant to both thoracic surgeons and anesthesiologists. This chapter aims to summarize current guidelines for managing patients undergoing thoracic surgery (from the preoperative period all the way through to postoperative care) by discussing recent updates within the field as well as some more well established tenets that remain relevant to the topic.
Part of the book: Updates in Anesthesia