COVID-19 The Lab Medicine Residency Challenge

The COVID-19 global pandemic has impacted every sphere of life including lab medicine residency programs. However, we’ve implemented some strategies to mitigate the challenges posed to our residents and our training program that might benefit other programs.

Living and working in the time of COVID-19 has been stressful for everyone, including our residents working long hours and even performing patient care with the attendant concerns about contracting the disease and passing it to friends and family. Therefore, we arranged for food and accommodation for all residents on duty and in quarantine. With our trainees’ personal wellbeing in mind, we encouraged online peer to peer counseling among residents and we assigned a mentor for each team of residents. We also made contingency plans in the scenario of residents getting infected or having personal emergencies, and we designed a protocol for de-isolating and returning to work after illness.

As laboratorians we have faced this pandemic with grit and determination. Although the residency program had to go through major changes, we prioritized education and took all measures to uphold our commitment to educating bright young minds during these trying times.