Spinal News International reports on a paper published online in The Spine Journal by HSS fellow and corresponding author James E. Dowdell, MD, and colleagues, discussing how HSS Spine has been restructured to care for COVID-19 patients, while providing training and education to residents and fellows.

The authors explain how the fellowship has found ways to optimize educational opportunities, detailing the completion of numerous research projects and the formation of a comprehensive educational curriculum that includes daily didactic sessions. “Combining this with the unexpected opportunity to work with medical colleagues caring for patients suffering from COVID-19 and/or other serious medical conditions that required inpatient medical care has resulted in a well-rounded educational experience that no one would have predicted,” cited the authors. Surgical trainees have undergone temporary re-assignments during the pandemic to help cover the inpatient care and intensive care units.

The authors conclude, “Changes that were made to hospital practice structures will benefit the community and ultimately our hospital system through this COVID-19 crisis and beyond. This includes ensuring proper training for our residents and fellows and adapting to the community as this crisis dictates. The spine fellowship has been impacted, but not diminished, by this crisis and ultimately we are uniquely positioned for the future to have had the opportunity to learn from a pandemic that has been unseen for the last 100 years.”

Read the full article at Spinalnewsinternational.com.