Abstract
The current COVID-19 pandemic has vastly impacted the health care system in the United States, and it is continuing to dictate its unprecedented influence on the education systems, especially the residency and fellowship training programs. The impact of COVID-19 on these training programs has not been uniform across the board, with plastic surgery residency and fellowship programs among the hardest hit specialties. Implementation of social distancing regulations has affected departmental educational activities, including preoperative, morbidity and mortality conferences and journal clubs; operating room educational activities; as well as the overall education of plastic surgery trainees in the United States. Almost all elective and semielective surgeries across the United States were suspended for a few months during the COVID-19 pandemic; this constitutes a significant portion of plastic surgery cases. Considering the current staged reopening policies, it may be a long time, if ever, before restrictions are completely lifted. In this paper, we review the multidimensional impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on the training programs of plastic surgery residents and fellows in the United States and worldwide, along with some potential solutions on how to address existing challenges.
Highlights
Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. [Malcolm X]
The current COVID-19 pandemic has vastly impacted health care in the United States and globally, and it is continuing to dictate its unprecedented influence on education systems, especially the health system and medical education field
The impact of the limitation in operative or surgical exposure for residents due to COVID-19 is dependent on the level of the trainee and the general length of the training program [1]
Summary
Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. [Malcolm X]. Necessary and important to analyze the educational impact of COVID-19 on plastic surgery residency and fellowship and to propose ways to address this challenge.
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