How Academic Medical Centers Can Navigate the Pandemic and Its Aftermath: Solutions for 3 Major Issues.

The COVID-19 crisis has seriously affected academic medical centers (AMCs) on multiple levels. Combined with many trends that were already under way pre pandemic, the current situation has generated significant disruption and underscored the need for change within and across AMCs. In this article, the authors explore some of the major issues and propose actionable solutions in 3 areas of concentration.

Management of Patients With Fever and Neutropenia Through the Arc of Time: A Narrative Review.

The association between fever and neutropenia and the risk for life-threatening infections in patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy has been known for 50 years. Indeed, infectious complications have been a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. This review chronicles the progress in defining and developing approaches to the management of fever and neutropenia through observational and controlled clinical trials done by single institutions, as well as by national and international collaborative groups.

Thoughts about Dying in America: Enhancing the impact of one's life journey and legacy by also planning for the end of life.

This Perspective offers a summary of the recommendations in the Institute of Medicine report Dying in America How we die is a deeply personal issue that each of us will face. However, the approach to end-of-life (EOL) care in the United States needs improvement. Too frequently, healthcare delivery is uncoordinated and has many providers who are not adequately prepared to have meaningful conversations about EOL planning.

The gender gap in academic medicine: comparing results from a multifaceted intervention for stanford faculty to peer and national cohorts.

Purpose: To assess whether the proportion of women faculty, especially at the full professor rank, increased from 2004 to 2010 at Stanford University School of Medicine after a multifaceted intervention.

Method: The authors surveyed gender composition and faculty satisfaction five to seven years after initiating a multifaceted intervention to expand recruitment and development of women faculty. The authors assessed pre/post relative change and rates of increase in women faculty at each rank, and faculty satisfaction; and differences in pre/post change and estimated rate of increase between Stanford and comparator cohorts (nationally and at peer institutions).

Commentary: to genotype or not to genotype? Addressing the debate through the development of a genomics and personalized medicine curriculum.

As technologic innovation helps broaden and refine our knowledge base of genetic associations, a growing interest in translating these genetic discoveries to clinically useful laboratory tests has given rise to the potential of personalized medicine. To fully realize this potential, medical schools must educate trainees on genetic and genomic testing in clinical settings. An emerging debate in academic medical centers is not about the need for this education but, rather, the most effective educational models that should be deployed.

The changing face of febrile neutropenia-from monotherapy to moulds to mucositis. Where do we go from here?

The initiation of monotherapy with a third- or fourth-generation cephalosporin, or with a carbapenem antibiotic, is now established medical practice for the neutropenic patient who becomes febrile. However, when the duration of neutropenia is prolonged (generally more than a week), additions to, or modifications of, the initial antibiotic regimen are necessary based on the evolving clinical and microbiological course of the patient. The rationale for these modifications of the initial therapy in high-risk neutropenic patients is reviewed along with the prospects for reducing the risk status of the neutropenic patient by bolstering or improving the host's immunological system and/or the time to haematological recovery.

Case study: the Stanford University School of Medicine and its teaching hospitals.

There is wide variation in the governance and organization of academic health centers (AHCs), often prompted by or associated with changes in leadership. Changes at AHCs are influenced by institutional priorities, economic factors, competing needs, and the personality and performance of leaders. No organizational model has uniform applicability, and it is important for each AHC to learn what works or does not on the basis of its experiences.

Fostering innovation without compromising integrity.

Industry's interaction with academia has created vast opportunity for innovation but also the potential for undue financial influence. Potential conflicts of interest can occur at the level of the individual researcher or the institution. Implementing guidelines and policies on conflicts of interest can help maintain appropriate separation between academic medicine and industry while permitting medical innovation to proceed.

2006 update of recommendations for the use of white blood cell growth factors: an evidence-based clinical practice guideline.

Purpose: To update the 2000 American Society of Clinical Oncology guideline on the use of hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors (CSF).

Update Methodology: The Update Committee completed a review and analysis of pertinent data published from 1999 through September 2005. Guided by the 1996 ASCO clinical outcomes criteria, the Update Committee formulated recommendations based on improvements in survival, quality of life, toxicity reduction and cost-effectiveness.

Methodology for clinical trials involving patients with cancer who have febrile neutropenia: updated guidelines of the Immunocompromised Host Society/Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer, with emphasis on outpatient studies.

Two multinational organizations, the Immunocompromised Host Society and the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer, have produced for investigators and regulatory bodies a set of guidelines on methodology for clinical trials involving patients with febrile neutropenia. The guidelines suggest that response (i.e.