Implications of COVID-19 on the General Surgery Match

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Naomi M. Sell, Massachusetts General Hospital; Motaz Qadan, Massachusetts General Hospital; Keith Delman, Emory University; Kevin K. Roggin, University of Chicago; David A. Spain, Stanford University; Roy Phitayakom, Massachusetts General Hospital; Keith D. Lillemoe, Massachusetts General Hospital; John T. Mullen, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-05-19
• Publisher: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000004032
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: ANNALS OF SURGERY
• Volume: 272
• Issue: 2
• Start Page: e155
• End Page: e156
• Grant/Funding Information: NMS was supported by the NIH T32 Research Training in Aging grant 5T32AG023480-14. The NIH had no involvement in study design; collection, analysis or interpretation of data; writing of the report; or decision to submit the article for publication.
• Keywords: education; pandemic; recruitment; care provisions; career planning; supply chain preservation; healthcare; virtual solution; COVID-19; medical students; long-term effects; challenges
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Health Care Management; Health Sciences, Education; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery; Health Sciences, Immunology

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic will have lasting implications that span the breadth of healthcare in the years to come. As a byproduct of multiple factors, including supply chain preservation, potential for asymptomatic spread, and a desire to minimize risk to individuals not required for care provision, medical students have largely been sidelined during this crisis. Although medical educators continue to develop virtual solutions to adapt the medical school curriculum, 1 concern that arises is how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the process of medical student career planning, especially recruitment into surgery. In this article, we discuss some of the foreseeable challenges related to medical student careers and propose solutions to mitigate its impact.