The New Normal: Coronavirus Pandemic Response Utilizing Microsoft SharePoint

Abstract

Abstract On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a pandemic. Hospitals throughout the USA and the residency programs housed therein have drastically altered their standard operations to slow the spread of disease. Maintaining the educational mission of a residency program within the parameters of social distancing mandates is an unprecedented challenge to graduate medical education and will remain so for the near future. We evaluated resident perception of our efforts to transition educational activities within the residency to an online, remote format utilizing Microsoft SharePoint. Educational conferences were transitioned to a videoconferencing platform on March 13, 2020 in conjunction with the deployment of an intradepartmental Microsoft SharePoint site to provide educational resources, disseminate scheduling changes, and provide wellness resources in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. An 11-question survey available from 4 Jan 2020–4 Jun 2020 surveyed resident perceptions of the instituted changes. Twenty-six of 31 residents (83.8%) responded to the resident survey invitation. Twenty-four of 26 residents (92.3%) characterized the SharePoint as useful. Twenty of 26 residents (76.9%) desired attending guidance as to how to utilize the online resources for each resident rotation. A total of 92.3% (24/26) of residents felt that the program’s response utilizing SharePoint engendered a greater sense of belonging to their work community. Resident perception of the transition to online learning utilizing Microsoft SharePoint as a distribution platform was generally positive, helping to mitigate untoward educational consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.