COVID-19 will again have a prominent place in the CHEST Annual Meeting education program with a variety of sessions focusing on the virus and lessons learned from the pandemic.
“Our knowledge and understanding of COVID is constantly evolving. There are new data to look at, new treatment options, and growing understanding of preventive measures and effectiveness,” said Scientific Program Committee Vice-Chair Subani Chandra, MD, FCCP. “The CHEST 2021 leadership team is very connected with what’s happening scientifically and in communities around the world. We are making sure that our attendees get to hear from experts in the field who can help take a close and critical look at data and share with us the latest information.”
This year’s sessions related to COVID-19 capitalize on months of research and clinical experience that was not available during the CHEST Annual Meeting last fall.
“We are starting to develop a better understanding of some of the public health ramifications — how care may differ and has differed in different racial groups, in different countries, and even in how variants behave differently — and we are furthering our understanding of that,” Dr. Chandra said. “We’re also very aware of the impact of this pandemic on health care services, the structure and delivery of care, and also mental health for health care providers and society in general.”
She said Critical Care in Global Health: From Ebola to Covid-19 and Beyond (Oct. 17, 8:00 am CT) will be an important session because there has been so much variability in the rate of spread, public health measures, medical care, and health care infrastructure in different parts of the world. She is also keenly interested in attending Racism in Health Care: The Fuel That Lit the COVID-19 Fire (Oct. 18, 1:30 pm CT).
The Evolution of COVID-19 Lung Disease: From Acute Lung Injury to Chronic Fibrosing Lung Disease (Oct. 17, 10:30 am CT) and Clinical Conundrums in COVID-19 Critical Care (Oct. 18, 4:30 pm CT) are among sessions that discuss the growing understanding of the natural history of COVID-19, address the latest controversies, and parse out the strength of the data or lack thereof.
The New Wave of Burnout: Impact and Interventions (Oct. 17, 10:30 am CT) addresses the toll of the pandemic on the health care professionals working in chest medicine.
“As a pulmonary, critical care, and sleep society, our members and our community have truly been on the front lines,” Dr. Chandra said. “Even before the pandemic, we were increasingly aware of how much work we have to do in recognizing and talking about burnout and mental health, and certainly in mitigating it. The pandemic has brought that conversation front and center.”
Several studies on pandemic-related stress, she said, show that significant numbers of health care providers report burnout and that the pandemic has harmed their mental health, and some say they are even considering leaving the field.
“These are numbers from before the country was in the grip of the Delta variant,” Dr. Chandra said. “Then we started to worry about other variants and booster shots and different waves of the pandemic that spread through different geographic regions at different times. Doing it once, doing it twice, and then feeling like this is happening again, that takes a lot of stamina.”
COVID-19 Live Sessions*
Sunday, October 17 | 8:00 am – 9:05 am CT
Critical Care in Global Health: From Ebola to COVID-19 and Beyond
Sunday, October 17 | 9:15 am – 10:20 am CT
HAP and VAP: COVID-19 and Beyond
Sunday, October 17 | 10:30 am – 11:35 am CT
The Evolution of COVID-19 Lung Disease: From Acute Lung Injury to Chronic Fibrosing Lung Disease
Monday, October 18 | 9:15 am – 10:20 am CT
The Impact of COVID-19 on Children
Pandemic Preparedness: Challenges Faced and Lessons Learned for the Next Health Care Crisis
Monday, October 18 | 1:30 pm – 2:35 pm CT
Racism in Health Care: The Fuel That Lit the COVID-19 Fire
COVID and VTE: Clinical Challenges and Update in Trials
Monday, October 18 | 4:30 pm – 5:35 pm CT
Clinical Conundrums in COVID-19 Critical Care
Tuesday, October 19 | 2:45 pm – 3:50 pm CT
2021 Update in Airway Management During COVID-19: A Crossfire Debate
Tuesday, October 19 | 4:00 pm – 5:05 pm CT
Post-ICU Syndrome: Current Understanding, Implementation, and the Impact of COVID-19
On-Demand Sessions**
- Moving on From the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned — A European Respiratory Society-Sponsored Session
- Plague Version 2020: Acute Management of COVID-19 and Long-term Post-COVID-19 Pulmonary Sequelae
- Role of Bronchoscopy in Critically Ill, Immunocompromised, and COVID-19 Patients
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women Physicians
- A Tale of Two Worlds: Providers of Color and Patients of Color at the End of Life During COVID-19
- You Think You Survived COVID-19: What’s Next?
- Don’t Waste a Crisis: Applying Disruptive Innovation in Medical Education Gained Through COVID-19
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Lung Cancer Care
- You Have to Trust Us: Palliative Care Experience for BIPOC Communities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Challenge of Pulmonary Disorders and Air Travel in the COVID-19 Era
- Practicing Sleep Medicine in a Post-COVID World
- COVID-19 and Sleep Medicine: This Too Shall Pass! But What Can We Leverage?
- Post-COVID Outcomes and Implications for Pulmonary Rehabilitation: Canadian Thoracic Society
*As of September 15, 2021. Check the CHEST 2021 schedule at chestmeeting.chestnet.org for the most up-to-date session information.
**Certain on-demand sessions will be available as bonus content after the online meeting concludes.
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CHEST 2021 • OCTOBER 17-20 • INFORM. INSPIRE. INNOVATE.
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