LSU Medical School staff authors public papers on COVID

The current issue of the Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society includes two papers by LSU Health New Orleans authors.
The first, “An Internal Medicine Residency Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Louisiana,” describes the response of LSU Health New Orleans’ Internal Medicine Residency Program in its three teaching hospitals in metro New Orleans.
The second, “The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Undergraduate Medical Education Experience at Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans,” describes the impact of COVID-19 on medical education.
LSU Health Internal Medicine residents rotate at three New Orleans metro area teaching hospitals – University Medical Center, Touro Infirmary and Ochsner-Kenner Medical Center.
The initial rise of COVID-19 at UMC occurred during the third week of March 2020. At the peak, all the hospitals in the greater New Orleans area quickly became inundated with patients affected by COVID-19. The goal of this article, written by Drs. Seth Vignes, Brittany Boudreaux, Shane Sanne, Catherine Hebert and Lee Engel, is to share their experience, designed responses to the multitude of issues facing the internal medicine residency program, and the lessons they learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The second paper, written by Drs. Cathy Lazarus, Hamilton Farris and Robin English, along with medical students Kia Sayers and Nancy Tran, describes LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine’s efforts and the challenges that lie ahead.
Its conclusion states, “We will maintain our flexibility as the pandemic evolves and anticipate that our community will continue to work together to ensure excellent medical education is received as our students prepare to become the future physicians for the state of Louisiana.”
Other papers in the Special Edition include a guest editorial, “The Resilience of our State” by Dr. Fred Lopez; “COVID-19: Epidemiology, Clinical Presentation and Prognosis” by Drs. Fred Lopez and Logan Ledet; “Diagnostic Approach to COVID-19” by Drs. Mohammed Ziada and Victoria Burke; “Prevention and Treatment of SARS-CoV-2: An Update” by Drs. Taras Nebeluk and Meredith Clement; “COVID-19 and Cardiovascular Disease” by Drs. Syed Saad, Murtuza Ali and Neeraj Jain; and “Leadership in the Time of COVID” by Dr. Charles Sanders.
These LSU Health New Orleans faculty physicians and residents have not only cared for patients on the front lines but have also made significant contributions to the body of knowledge about COVID-19.