A pandemic offers a silver lining for pediatric radiology training
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COMMENTARY
A pandemic offers a silver lining for pediatric radiology training Ross A. Myers 1
&
Micheál A. Breen 1 & Tal Laor 1
Received: 12 May 2020 / Revised: 14 July 2020 / Accepted: 10 August 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Widespread changes In 2020, the pediatric radiology community finds itself grappling with an unexpected and unprecedented threat to global health requiring many aspects of our lives to accommodate to a new norm [1, 2]. To respond to and mitigate the damages caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]) that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), pediatric radiology departments and divisions, which are so essential to the daily provision of pediatric health care, have had to rapidly implement operational changes to reduce risk of further viral transmission [3, 4]. These changes include social distancing among staff and — in the first wave — efforts to limit non-urgent and time-insensitive imaging. These changes, while necessary to protect patients and radiology staff, have had a disruptive impact on training [5], particularly for those completing or just beginning their 1-year subspecialty fellowships in pediatric radiology, and for the much larger number of radiology residents commencing their pediatric radiology rotations. Social distancing during a pandemic substantially limits the number of US, fluoroscopic and interventional examinations being performed and the number of personnel and trainees who can be hands-on during such procedures, and considerably decreases the overall volume of imaging studies performed. Social distancing also renders the traditional inperson readout between attending and trainee all but impossible, limits the ability to gather together for daily didactic and case conferences, and has forced the cancellation of the annual 2020 general meeting and postgraduate course of the Society for Pediatric Radiology. But as the proverb says, “necessity is the mother of invention,” and many changes have been, and
* Ross A. Myers [email protected] 1
Department of Radiology, Boston Children’s Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
continue to be, implemented and revised within the radiology department as we strive to maintain the highest quality of patient care as well as fellowship and resident training in a safe manner during these tumultuous times. We write this narrative with the recognition that this is just one institutional story during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we hope it starts a conversation within the pediatric radiology community. A dialogue in which we all openly share our experiences, challenges and unique innovations implemented in response to COVID-19 can be used to improve pediatric radiology education in numerous settings for the duration of this pandemic and beyond.
Our department’s story Our department is part of one of the largest free-standing children’s hospitals in the country, based in a city on the Eastern Seaboard that w
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