Academic Medicine Open Forum

Thank you for joining this discussion community within the AAMC Communities network.

This is a rapidly evolving situation and schools should check the most current and reliable resources daily, including:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• National Institutes of Health
• S. Department of State
• World Health Organization

At this time (3/2/2020), all of these groups are aiming for containment-which means that if a pocket of disease is identified, social distancing, contact tracing, etc., will be undertaken. While the CDC and other organizations aim for containment and offer guidelines, the actual work is led by the local public health organizations, so schools should also keep tabs on what local public health offices are saying. 

Contingency plans need to be made now, but decisions will change as we collectively learn more about the epidemiology of COVID-19 and where the virus is spreading most widely.

We recommend that schools activate their emergency response/crisis management teams.  For COVID-19 it would be reasonable for schools to review pandemic plans from H5N1 and modify those for what we know about COVID-19. We think it makes good sense for the crisis management team for the COVID-19 outbreak to include all mission areas, work closely with your clinical colleagues and connect and work closely with your community leaders.

The AAMC has been closely monitoring developments related to the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), including engaging with both federal health officials and our member institutions. We know that many of our member institutions are actively preparing for and responding to the virus, and we recognize that this impacts constituents and learners across all AAMC mission areas of patient care, medical education, and medical research.

We strongly encourage you all to begin sharing thoughts, ideas, and plans on this forum. With something as novel and rapidly evolving as COVID-19, we all need to learn from each other.  In addition, AAMC will use this forum to share timely updates with you directly. 

To kick off our conversation: Every School should activate their emergency response team. 

Who is included in your emergency response team?  Have you built new community connections for COVID-19? How is this different from previous crises? What are you learning?

Thank you for joining this discussion community within the AAMC Communities network.

This is a rapidly evolving situation and schools should check the most current and reliable resources daily, including:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• National Institutes of Health
• S. Department of State
• World Health Organization

At this time (3/2/2020), all of these groups are aiming for containment-which means that if a pocket of disease is identified, social distancing, contact tracing, etc., will be undertaken. While the CDC and other organizations aim for containment and offer guidelines, the actual work is led by the local public health organizations, so schools should also keep tabs on what local public health offices are saying. 

Contingency plans need to be made now, but decisions will change as we collectively learn more about the epidemiology of COVID-19 and where the virus is spreading most widely.

We recommend that schools activate their emergency response/crisis management teams.  For COVID-19 it would be reasonable for schools to review pandemic plans from H5N1 and modify those for what we know about COVID-19. We think it makes good sense for the crisis management team for the COVID-19 outbreak to include all mission areas, work closely with your clinical colleagues and connect and work closely with your community leaders.

The AAMC has been closely monitoring developments related to the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), including engaging with both federal health officials and our member institutions. We know that many of our member institutions are actively preparing for and responding to the virus, and we recognize that this impacts constituents and learners across all AAMC mission areas of patient care, medical education, and medical research.

We strongly encourage you all to begin sharing thoughts, ideas, and plans on this forum. With something as novel and rapidly evolving as COVID-19, we all need to learn from each other.  In addition, AAMC will use this forum to share timely updates with you directly. 

To kick off our conversation: Every School should activate their emergency response team. 

Who is included in your emergency response team?  Have you built new community connections for COVID-19? How is this different from previous crises? What are you learning?