Abstract
In the wake of the tremendous fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic that was mostly negative, I find great optimism and encouragement from the ability of society at all levels to focus on a common problem with a collaborative and productive resolve to address this millennial event. The rapid response was made possible by marshaling the resources available from many sources, not the least of which was the medical association community. It has been particularly gratifying to work hand-in-hand with our specialty societies within and outside the otolaryngology family to produce educational and scientific information that is consistent and that has and will continue to affect policy favorably. The groups that enable these inspirational collaborative accomplishments through their dedication, innovation, and imagination are the practicing physicians who have given freely and generously of their time and talents to help the whole health care community provide the most up-to-date care possible.
There will be many memories and lessons emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic based on the medical, social, and economic consequences and disruptions left in its wake. Initial inconsistent and unreliable flow of information complicated early response planning and resulted in rapidly changing strategies that led to significant disarray and anxiety throughout the medical community that was heightened by the lack of protective supplies and diagnostic accuracy.
In the wake of the tremendous fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic that was mostly negative, I find great optimism and encouragement from the ability of society at all levels to focus on a common problem with a collaborative and productive resolve to address this millennial event. This was particularly true in the medical community, which was faced with total disruption of normal practice patterns and initial severe shortages of supplies for protection, diagnosis, and treatment, all while being at substantial risk of infection itself and facing considerable economic consequences. Physicians and other health care workers were often placed into situations outside their normal areas of expertise. Medical students and residents have been affected in ways not imagined. Discussions pivoted from the ongoing quest to improve and modernize educational opportunities for both groups to how to handle safety concerns, the loss of precious face-to-face time with patients, and vanishing critical operating educational experience for those in the surgical specialties.
The rapid response in identifying and prioritizing not only the immediate concerns and needs raised by the pandemic but also the short-, intermediate-, and long-term ramifications was made possible by marshaling the resources available from many sources, not the least of which was the medical association community. The willingness to share information and best practices transcended national and state borders, specialty designations, and levels of training. These efforts predominantly involved patient and provider safety, accumulating real-time scientific information, educational and training concerns, and short-term economic issues. The Otolaryngology Program Directors Organization developed an innovative regionalized program to help augment resident education through virtual lectures shared freely within the 3 designated regions of the United States. The American College of Surgeons, through its Academy of Master Surgeon Educators, under the leadership of Ajit K. Sachdeva, MD, has created a task force to look at all aspects of surgical education, from medical students to practicing physicians, beginning with the acute alteration caused by the current pandemic—particularly, the major disruption to resident training and their immediate needs—and extending to future strategies for maximizing learning experiences in a rapidly changing environment. I am honored to be on this group, which contains representatives from all the major surgical fields, and I am hopeful that this will lead to consistent advancement across all surgical specialties.
There is ongoing investigation into the breadth of consequences that will result from this event. Equally important has been the aggressive, unified advocacy efforts on behalf of all health care providers and their patients. These endeavors resulted in unprecedented legislative and regulatory policies that changed the course of the disease and benefited providers and patients alike. Make no mistake: there is still much to be done, but these actions set the stage for further recovery and for establishment of a framework for the development and production of adequate supplies of accurate and reliable testing materials, as well as the maintenance of available personal protective equipment for all sites of patient interaction and levels of care.
It has been particularly gratifying to work hand-in-hand with our specialty societies within and outside the otolaryngology family to produce educational and scientific information that is consistent and that has and will continue to affect policy favorably. The Society of Critical Care Medicine opened its tool “Critical Care for Non-ICU Clinicians” to all physicians for no cost and proved invaluable for those reassigned to these areas.
In a recent project, the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) designed and disseminated a “COVID-19 Anosmia Reporting Tool,” which drew responses from multiple specialties across the world. The resultant clinical report was instrumental in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s decision to add anosmia as a sentinel symptom of the coronavirus. I am indebted to the specialty societies within otolaryngology that are currently working with the AAO-HNS committees to produce consistent recommendations for resumption of care in the office, ambulatory surgical center, and the operating room. The leadership of all these societies has agreed that it is in the best interest of patients and our members that we have consistent recommendations for testing, safety (patients, staff, and physicians), personal protective equipment, and prioritization of surgical procedures within otolaryngology. These guidelines will be useful in dealing with hospital and ambulatory surgical center committees as well as reassuring staff and patients that their safety is of prime importance or they are getting needed care.
The groups that enable these inspirational collaborative accomplishments through their dedication, innovation, and imagination are the practicing physicians, who despite being inundated by outside factors that could not have been reasonably planned for, have given their time and talents freely and generously to help the whole health care community provide the most up-to-date care possible. This is in addition to navigating the most unsettling change to practice models in modern history that has created an economic uncertainty that threatens the ability to return to “best care” paradigms for some time into the future. I salute all our frontline responders and those organizing efforts on behalf of patients worldwide for their commitment and unwavering professionalism in this dark time. These are the efforts that will lead us through the storm.