Moshe Y. Flugelman MD, Ruth Margalit MD, Ami Aronheim PhD, Omri Barak PhD, Assaf Marom MD PhD, Katya Dolnikov MD, Eyal Braun MD, Ayelet Raz-Pasteur MD, Zaher S. Azzam MD, David Hochstein MD, Riad Haddad MD, Rachel Nave PhD, Arieh Riskin MD, Dan Waisman MD, Robert Glueck MD, Michal Mekel MD, Yael Avraham BSc, Uval Bar-Peled BSc, Ronit Kacev MA, Michal Keren BA, Amir Karban MD, and Elon Eisenberg MD
Background: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic forced drastic changes in all layers of life. Social distancing and lockdown drove the educational system to uncharted territories at an accelerated pace, leaving educators little time to adjust.
Objectives: To describe changes in teaching during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: We described the steps implemented at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology Faculty of Medicine during the initial 4 months of the COVID-19 pandemic to preserve teaching and the academic ecosystem.
Results: Several established methodologies, such as the flipped classroom and active learning, demonstrated effectiveness. In addition, we used creative methods to teach clinical medicine during the ban on bedside teaching and modified community engagement activities to meet COVID-19 induced community needs.
Conclusions: The challenges and the lessons learned from teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic prompted us to adjust our teaching methods and curriculum using multiple online teaching methods and promoting self-learning. It also provided invaluable insights on our pedagogy and the teaching of medicine in the future with emphasis on students and faculty being part of the changes and adjustments in curriculum and teaching methods. However, personal interactions are essential to medical school education, as are laboratories, group simulations, and bedside teaching
Yair Binyamin MD, Philip Heesen MD, Igor Gruzman MD, Alexander Zlotnik MD PHD, Alexander Ioscovich MD, Ariel Ronen MD, Carolyn F. Weiniger MD, Dmitry Frank MD, Eyal Sheiner MD PHD, and Sharon Orbach-Zinger MD
Background: Our hospital used to perform cesarean delivery under general anesthesia rather than neuraxial anesthesia, mostly because of patient refusal of members of the conservative Bedouin society. According to recommendations implemented by the Israeli Obstetric Anesthesia Society, which were implemented due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, we increased the rate of neuraxial anesthesia among deliveries.
Objectives: To compare the rates of neuraxial anesthesia in our cesarean population before and during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Methods: We included consecutive women undergoing an elective cesarean delivery from two time periods: pre-SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (15 February 2019 to 14 April 2019) and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (15 February 2020 to 15 April 2020). We collected demographic data, details about cesarean delivery, and anesthesia complications.
Results: We included 413 parturients undergoing consecutive elective cesarean delivery identified during the study periods: 205 before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and 208 during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We found a statistically significant difference in neuraxial anesthesia rates between the groups: before the pandemic (92/205, 44.8%) and during (165/208, 79.3%; P < 0.0001).
Conclusions: We demonstrated that patient and provider education about neuraxial anesthesia can increase its utilization. The addition of a trained obstetric anesthesiologist to the team may have facilitated this transition
Miri Dotan MD, Elena Zion MD, Haim Ben-Zvi PhD, Havatzelet Yarden-Bilavsky MD, and Efraim Bilavsky MD
Background: Adenovirus infections are prevalent in children. They usually cause a mild self-limited disease. However, this infection can be associated with considerable morbidity and mortality in specific populations, especially among immunocompromised children. Children with Down syndrome are susceptible to a higher frequency and increased severity of viral infections. Little is known about the severity and clinical course of adenovirus infections in children with Down syndrome.
Objectives: To characterize hospitalized children diagnosed with Down syndrome and presenting with adenovirus infection.
Methods: We performed a retrospective review of children admitted with adenovirus from January 2005 to August 2014 from a single tertiary pediatric medical center in Israel. Data were compared between patients with and without Down syndrome.
Results: Among the 486 hospitalized children with adenoviral infection, 11 (2.28%) were diagnosed with Down syndrome. We found that children with Down syndrome were more likely to experience a higher incidence of complications (18.2% vs. 2.4%, P = 0.008), a higher rate of admissions to the intensive care unit (36.4% vs. 2.4%, P < 0.001), and more prolonged hospitalizations (17 ± 15.9 days compared to 4.46 ± 3.16, P = 0.025).
Conclusions: Children with Down syndrome who were hospitalized with adenovirus infection represent a high-risk group and warrant close monitoring. If a vaccine for adenovirus becomes available, children with Down syndrome should be considered as candidates
Avishai M. Tsur MD MHA, Amitai Ziv MD MHA, and Howard Amital MD MHA