10.5826/dpc.1301a13
text/xml
2160-9381
2374
en
Shari R Lipner
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Dermatology Practical & Conceptual
Virtual Resident Education With the Dermatologic Society of Greater New York During the COVID-19 pandemic
Text.Serial.Journal
https://dpcj.org/index.php/dpc
Opinion
2023-01-31
2022-02-07
2023-01-31
2023-02-27
e2023013
Dermatol Pract Concept
Shari R Lipner
2023/01/31
10.5826/dpc.1301a13
e2023013
Department of Dermatology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA
2160-9381
en
e2023013
Ko LN, Chen ST, Huang JT, McGee JS, Liu KJ. Rethinking dermatology resident education in the age of COVID‐19. International journal of dermatology. 2020 Dec;59(12):1539.
Virtual Resident Education With the Dermatologic Society of Greater New York During the COVID-19 pandemic
https://dpcj.org/index.php/dpc/article/download/2374/1976
               Virtual Resident Education with the
            Dermatologic Society of Greater New York
                 During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Shweta Shukla1, Jason Cohen2, George Han3, Roger Ho4, Vitaly Terushkin5, Shari R. Lipner5


1 SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn NY, USA
2 Dermpath Diagnostics, White Plains NY, USA
3 Mount Sinai Hospital, Manhattan NY, USA
4 New York University, Manhattan NY, USA
5 Department of Dermatology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA



Citation: Shukla S, Cohen J, Han G, Ho R, Terushkin V, Lipner SR. Virtual Resident Education With the Dermatologic Society of Greater
New York During the COVID-19 pandemic. Dermatol Pract Concept. 2023;13(1):e2023013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.1301a13
Accepted: May 2, 2022; Published: January 2023
Copyright: ©2023 Shukla et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial License (BY-NC-4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/, which permits unrestricted noncommercial use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.
Funding: None.
Competing Interests: None.
Authorship: All authors have contributed significantly to this publication.
Corresponding Author: Shari R. Lipner MD, PhD, New York University 1305 York Avenue, 9th floor, Manhattan, NY 10021,
646-962-3376 E-mail: shl9032@med.cornell.edu




Technology has grown exponentially in this past decade,                  of dermatology residents reported that COVID-19 had neg-
with a plethora of virtual communities for socializing, emo-             atively impacted their education, with cancelled or post-
tional support, online purchases, but few opportunities for              poned lectures and reduced patient volume in clinic [2]. In a
virtual medical education [1]. Prior to the COVID-19 pan-                ­survey-based study performed during the pandemic, 80% of
demic, dermatology Continuing Medical Education oppor-                   residents reported high levels of anxiety regarding the Amer-
tunities for both residents and board-certified dermatologists           ican Board of Dermatology (ABD) certification examination
had been predominantly in-person experiences, limited to                 and employment opportunities [3]. On the other hand, in
those with the time and means to attend these events. Con-               a nationwide survey-based study, 99% of dermatology res-
ferences for major dermatology organizations had always                  idents reported that virtual didactics were beneficial during
been held in-person until recently. Many residents were                  the peak of the pandemic in April 2020 [4]. Thus, COVID-19
previously unable to attend educational conferences due to               has brought about a unique opportunity to dramatically
limited academic time, clinical coverage, and cost. However,             transform resident education and the DSGNY was one of
due to COVID-19, many groups, including the Dermatologic                 the first dermatology societies to embrace that change.
Society of Greater New York (DSGNY), have been forced to                      Dermatopathology education may pose the greatest ob-
adapt to the changing landscape.                                         stacle to remote learning. Prior to the pandemic, residents
    The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in far-reaching                   typically learned at the microscope by observing dermatopa-
changes in resident education. In a survey-based study, 60%              thology signouts [5]. However, with many residents having




Opinion | Dermatol Pract Concept. 2023;13(1):e2023013                                                                                   1
limited rotations in dermatopathology, there have been sig-        their home institutions. These interactions may pave the way
nificant disruptions due to the pandemic. In 2020, the ABD         for cross-institutional research collaborations and dissem-
changed the testing format from utilizing microscopic slides       ination of the newest findings in dermatology relevant to
to digital slides for the dermatopathology component on the        clinical care. It is also interesting to note that this may help
boards. Since residents had been traditionally taught at the       residents pick up different approaches to dermatologic dif-
microscope, many residents felt unprepared for digital der-        ferential diagnosis, and gain exposure to approaching differ-
matopathology. In spring 2020, DSGNY was one of the first          ent patient populations from those which they are already
organizations to create a free recurring dermatopathology          familiar with.
resident education series with Dr. Jason Cohen, a dermato-            However, virtual learning does raise concerns about the
pathologist at Dermpath Diagnostics in White Plains, New           negative implications of limited human contact. The practice
York. During each session, Dr. Cohen reviewed 15 unknown           of dermatology is highly team-based, and collegiality is an
slides with residents in an interactive format and reinforced      essential aspect of dermatology education and patient care.
a methodical and algorithmic approach to approaching               Virtual learning experiences make it more difficult to have
dermatopathology slides. The group regularly reviewed              exchanges about shared patient experiences. While social
high-yield diagnoses including benign adnexal neoplasms,           distancing is necessary, we recommend that virtual network-
acantholytic disorders, autoimmune blistering disease, and         ing events have small group breakouts. We are also pro-
infections. Residents asked for clarification on specific his-     moting virtual one-on-one mentorship experiences between
tologic findings or differentiating specific diagnoses either      residents and attending dermatologists which will transition
verbally or via chat. The residents who participated found         to in-person meetings when the time permits. Thus, residents
these lectures incredibly helpful for their overall education      who have had limited mentoring opportunities may be able
and dermatopathology board review. Over 90 residents have          to find a mentor through our structured program. Virtual
participated thus far. We do not know the impact of this se-       dermatology education does raise privacy concerns as care
ries on board pass rates or promoting dermatology residents’       must be taken to utilize online platforms that prohibit down-
interests in pursuing dermatopathology, and these topics           loading of patient photos.
merit further study.                                                  The DSGNY has played an important role in promoting
    Our DSGNY dermatopathology series highlights the               resident education during this pandemic. We will continue
benefits of virtual education. Residents with limited derma-       our virtual education series for New York City dermatology
topathology didactics at their own residency programs or           residents and encourage residents from across the country
who wanted additional training could participate in these          to attend. We hope that this model and spirit of service may
sessions free of cost, which is helpful on a tight resident bud-   lead to similar programs nationwide, all in the interest of
get. Furthermore, residents who are less comfortable asking        improving dermatology resident education.
questions in real-time may feel more comfortable doing so
via a virtual platform. Our lecture series is scheduled weekly
to monthly and thus shorter lectures may help to circumvent        References
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conferences. Residents with children who struggle with child-         cal education during the COVID-19 pandemic: learning from a
care are able to attend these lectures from home. Our virtual         distance. Advances in Chronic Kidney Disease. 2020 Jun 23.2.
dermatopathology didactics are now expanding to include            2. Stewart CR, Lipner SR. Experiences of resident dermatolo-
                                                                      gists during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A cross‐sectional survey.
additional speakers, facilitating new teaching opportunities
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for dermatologists not directly tied to academic institutions,
                                                                   3. Adusumilli NC, Eleryan M, Tanner S, Friedman AJ. Third-year
and giving residents different perspectives.                           dermatology resident anxiety in the era of COVID-19.
    These lecture series are open to dermatology residents             ­Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 2020 Sep
from across the United States, allowing for a unique op-                1;83(3):969-71.
portunity for interactions among residents from different          4. Li YM, Galimberti F, Abrouk M, Kirsner RS. US Dermatology
                                                                        Resident Responses about the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results
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                                                                        from a Nationwide Survey. Southern medical journal. 2020 Sep
idents can learn from others’ experiences and questions
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during teaching sessions. Residents may utilize these virtual      5. Ko LN, Chen ST, Huang JT, McGee JS, Liu KJ. Rethink-
sessions as a platform for communication and inform one                 ing ­dermatology resident education in the age of COVID‐19.
another of additional teaching sessions or grand rounds at              ­International journal of dermatology. 2020 Dec;59(12):1539.




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