Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on an Emergency Medicine Residency Training Program in Istanbul

Abstract

AbstractThe first case of COVID-19 was reported in March 2020 in Turkey. Following the countrywide restrictions, residency lectures and meetings were suspended. Emergency medicine (EM) residency training was uniquely disturbed because the medical care provided by the hospitals during pandemics was restricted to only emergency admissions. Our hospital is a state-owned Training and Research Academic Centre. Regular scientific conferences and postgraduate training courses are organized by specialty societies and academic staff. We aimed to describe the challenges of residency training during COVID restrictions and reflect the opinions of the emergency medicine residents through an online survey study. Survey results revealed that WhatsApp Group announcements were preferred to email for rapid information distribution. A major challenge during the initial period was following the weekly scientific board meeting guidelines and distributing the updated documents within the department. Adaptation to the online lectures was also challenging. Practical sessions were found to be the most challenging and unattainable by the residents. One-on-one sessions were preferred especially for surgical procedures and ultrasound training. Online courses prepared by the specialty societies were useful for specialty-focused information sharing. WhatsApp is the preferred way for fast information sharing including educational materials and guidelines. Specialty societies are important stakeholders in improving up-to-date materials for distance learning within the EM residency training.