Abstract PO-018: Hematology oncology COllaborative VIDeoconferencing (COVID) Learning Initiative: A multi-institutional trainee alliance to rapidly disseminate emerging SARS-CoV2 and cancer best practices
Authors: Martin Richard L. , Grant Michael , Patell Rushad , Middha Shonali , May Jori , Bodine Charles , Reap Leo , Furfaro David , Brusca Samuel , Gilbert Jill , Lovly Christine , Collichio Frances , Green Jennifer 
Published: December 2020

Introduction: The SARS-CoV2 pandemic impacted numerous aspects of medical practice, including continuing medical education. In-person and single-institution educational formats could not address the challenges of social distancing, heterogeneous regional experiences, and continuously emerging data. The vulnerability of cancer patients to SARS-CoV2 added further urgency to overcoming these barriers. To fulfill these unmet educational and patient care needs, we established a novel cross-institutional trainee-driven, on-line collaborative for the purpose of generating multidisciplinary seminars on emerging best practices for the acute management of patients with SARS-CoV2.

Methods: The COVID Learning Initiative is currently managed by clinical trainees and faculty from 13 institutions across 10 states. Weekly Zoom conferences were led by a rotating team consisting of 2-3 fellows overseen by 4-5 expert faculty from throughout the country. Format consisted of two 15-minute instructional segments presented by trainees, followed by a concluding 30-minute faculty Q&A panel moderated by a trainee. Attendees completed baseline demographics, SARS-CoV2 experience surveys, and pre/post conference knowledge questions. Conferences were recorded and archived to enhance access and dissemination of knowledge.

Results: Within 6 weeks—and beginning just 2 weeks after inception—we produced five 1-hour-long multidisciplinary video conferences covering emerging antiviral therapies, coagulopathy, pulmonary complications, provider resilience, and ethics of resource scarcity. On average, there were 100 participants per seminar. Post-conference questioning consistently demonstrated acquisition of knowledge across topics and disciplines. Attendees also improved in their self-assessed comfort managing multidisciplinary aspects of SARS-CoV2. Overall, presenting collaborations involved 11 fellows and 28 faculty representing 6 medical specialties and 17 institutions. Several collaborations persisted, resulting in further dissemination of knowledge with tangible outcomes such as generation of peer-reviewed manuscripts.

Conclusions: The COVID Learning Initiative demonstrated a novel continuing medical education platform capable of rapidly disseminating knowledge at a national scale, while realizing new opportunities for remote trainee mentoring and skills development. With initial feasibility and continued interest among participating institutions, COVID Learning Initiative plans to evolve to Fellows ACHIEVE: Alliance for Collaborative Hematology Oncology Inter-Institutional Education through Videoconferencing to conduct an extended multi-institutional educational series on adapting cancer management and training program best practices.

Citation Format: Richard L. Martin, Michael Grant, Rushad Patell, Shonali Middha, Jori May, Charles Bodine, Leo Reap, David Furfaro, Samuel Brusca, Jill Gilbert, Christine Lovly, Frances Collichio, Jennifer Green. Hematology oncology COllaborative VIDeoconferencing (COVID) Learning Initiative: A multi-institutional trainee alliance to rapidly disseminate emerging SARS-CoV2 and cancer best practices [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Meeting: COVID-19 and Cancer; 2020 Jul 20-22. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2020;26(18_Suppl):Abstract nr PO-018.