The Virtual Interview Experience: Perspectives of Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Applicants.

Background: Because of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, graduate medical education programs adopted virtual interviews (VIs) as the default modality for the 2020 recruitment season. It is unknown whether VIs allowed applicants to effectively evaluate programs, and the best interview format for the future is unclear.

Objective: To ) assess pulmonary and critical care applicants' perceived ability to evaluate programs using VIs, ) determine the attitudes of applicants toward the components of VIs, and ) identify applicants' preferences for the future fellowship interview format.

Virtual Interviews and Their Effect on Cognitive Load for Graduate Medical Education Applicants and Programs.

The impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has dramatically affected virtually all aspects of health care use, including patient care, research, and education. Among the groups affected were prospective applicants to graduate medical education training programs. To ensure a safe and equitable process for residency and fellowship application, multiple accrediting bodies strongly recommended that training programs conduct fellowship and residency interviews in a virtual format.

Balancing Demands: Determinants of Burnout Reported by Fellows in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

Burnout is common among physicians who care for critically ill patients and is known to contribute to worse patient outcomes. Fellows training in pulmonary and critical care medicine (PCCM) have risk factors that make them susceptible to burnout; for example, clinical environments that require increased intellectual and emotional demands with long hours. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has recognized the increasing importance of trainee burnout and encourages training programs to address burnout.

A National Survey of Burnout and Depression Among Fellows Training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine: A Special Report by the Association of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Program Directors.

Background: The prevalence of burnout and depressive symptoms is high among physician trainees.

Research Question: What is the burden of burnout and depressive symptoms among fellows training in pulmonary and critical care medicine (PCCM) and what are associated individual fellow, program, and institutional characteristics?

Study Design And Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional electronic survey of fellows enrolled in pulmonary, PCCM, and critical care medicine training programs in the United States to assess burnout and depressive symptoms. Burnout symptoms were measured using the Maslach Burnout Index two-item measure.

Salvage therapies for refractory hypoxemia in ARDS.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a condition of varied etiology characterized by the acute onset (within 1 week of the inciting event) of hypoxemia, reduced lung compliance, diffuse lung inflammation and bilateral opacities on chest imaging attributable to noncardiogenic (increased permeability) pulmonary edema. Although multi-organ failure is the most common cause of death in ARDS, an estimated 10-15% of the deaths in ARDS are caused due to refractory hypoxemia, i.e.

Modeling of Lung Function Recovery in Neuralgic Amyotrophy With Diaphragm Impairment.

Background: Neuralgic amyotrophy is an inflammatory peripheral nerve disorder in which phrenic nerve involvement can lead to diaphragm paralysis. The prevalence, magnitude, and time course of diaphragm recovery are uncertain.

Methods: This study modeled the course of recovery of lung function in 16 subjects with diaphragm impairment from neuralgic amyotrophy.

Pirfenidone and Nintedanib for Treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is one of the most common entities of the family of disorders known as the interstitial lung diseases. It is a chronic, progressive, and often-fatal disease with a median survival time of 3 to 5 years. In 2014 the US Food and Drug Administration approved pirfenidone and nintedanib, two antifibrotic agents for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Hb Grove City [β38(C4)Thr→Ser, ACC>AGC; HBB: c.116C>G]: a new low oxygen affinity β chain variant.

A previously unreported β chain hemoglobin (Hb) variant, Hb Grove City [β38(C4)Thr→Ser, ACC>AGC; HBB: c.116C>G], was discovered in a woman who presented with hypoxia and mild anemia. Her young daughter also tested positive for the variant and displayed similar symptoms.

State of the evidence: mechanical ventilation with PEEP in patients with cardiogenic shock.

The need to provide invasive mechanical ventilatory support to patients with myocardial infarction and acute left heart failure is common. Despite the large number of patients requiring mechanical ventilation in this setting, there are remarkably few data addressing the ideal mode of respiratory support in such patients. Although there is near universal acceptance regarding the use of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation in patients with acute pulmonary oedema, there is more concern with invasive positive pressure ventilation owing to its more significant haemodynamic impact.

Mucoid plugs in eosinophilic pneumonia.

A 47-year-old woman developed dyspnea, sputum production, and intermittent cough, which persisted for several months. She had received treatment for asthma without resolution of symptoms. Radiologic evidence of bilateral pulmonary infiltrates prompted a bronchoscopic examination, which showed extensive bronchial plugging.

Airway pressure release ventilation: an alternative mode of mechanical ventilation in acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) results in collapse of alveoli and therefore poor oxygenation. In this article, we review airway pressure release ventilation (APRV), a mode of mechanical ventilation that may be useful when, owing to ARDS, areas of the lungs are collapsed and need to be reinflated ("recruited"), avoiding cyclic alveolar collapse and reopening.