CORONA Initiative

Background on CORONA Initiative 

In March 2020 COVID-19 led to mass shutdowns of hospitals and healthcare facilities in the United States, fundamentally transforming healthcare and medical education. I was walking our labs and brainstorming ways to salvage some form of resident education, given the circumstances. Remember that when COVID hit the United States, we had no idea how long the shutdowns would last, what would be the extent, or what would be the long-term impact on education. That's when it hit -- the idea of a virtual consortium. After discussions with several national leaders in otolaryngology, the CORONA Initiative was hatched as one of three international consortiums in otolaryngology education. The website and consortium was up and going within a week, via extensive behind-the-scenes work within the department and the outstanding volunteer attitude of faculty from institutions all over the United States. It truly was a breathtaking example of what a "can-do" attitude and collaboration can do in a specialty. 

Please enjoy the (free) videos, as well as the original information posted below. We hope that CORONA will continue to be a resource for otolaryngology knowledge for years to come. 

Sincerely, 

Brett Comer

CORONA Initiative Statement

Thank you to all of our faculty, resident, and student participants in the CORONA initiative.  The virtual consortium concept for otolaryngology education has been a resounding success, not only from a medical education standpoint, but also from the standpoint as serving as a template for future virtual education.  We send a heartfelt thank you out to our volunteer faculty in particular.

Videos will remain up on the website for the foreseeable future.

Sincerely,

Brett Comer, MD
Nikita Gupta, MD
 

CORONA Information

Academic institutions have initiated Zoom conferences due to COVID-induced restrictions on meeting group size.  Sonya Malekzadeh, MD, Chair of the Otolaryngology Program Director’s Organization, has recommended three major national educational consortiums due to time zone considerations.  Academic otolaryngology departments under the leadership of Dr. Oghalai at USC have started Collaborative Multi-Institutional Otolaryngology Residency Education Program (CMIOREP), with lectures running 4-6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (https://sites.usc.edu/ohnscovid/). Dr. Mowry and Dr. Thorne are leading the Great Lakes Otolaryngology Consortium (GLOC) (www.uhhospitals.org/ENTEDConsortium) with lectures running 3-5 p.m. EST.  We are starting a collaborative known as the Consortium Of Resident Otolaryngologic knowledge Attainment (CORONA) Initiative in Otolaryngology (Entcovid.med.uky.edu) with lectures running 8 a.m. - noon EST.  Given the timing of lectures, all three collaboratives could all be accessed daily by residents and faculty for a very robust yet flexible structured learning experience.   Faculty and residents from any geographic location are encouraged to participate in all three initiatives. 

Schedule:  The CORONA sessions open nationwide starting 3/30/2020  The session run 8 a.m. - noon EST weekdays.  There will also be reading or web-based material provided in preparation for certain lectures.  The sessions cover the otolaryngologic subspecialty knowledge as well as topics such as quality improvement/patient safety, wellness, audiology, business of medicine, and others. 

Residents: Sign in to Zoom at Entcovid.med.uky.edu .  The schedule is on the website.

Faculty: Please sign up now on this Google Spreadsheet (CORONA Consortium Spreadsheet).  The goal is for talks to be 30-45 minutes in length, leaving time for group discussion and questions.  We encourage a variety of teaching formats, including: traditional didactics, article review, Socratic teaching, surgical videos, case presentations, and any additional creative ways of engaging learners.  For those wishing to develop new presentations or wishing to involve non-otolaryngology colleagues, a list of presentation ideas will be listed at Entcovid.med.uky.edu.  

Please contact Brett Comer (btcome2@uky.edu) or Sara Buck (saralyn.buck@uky.edu) at (859) 218-2146 for any questions.