Postgraduate medical journal
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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected healthcare systems worldwide. The disruption to hospital routines has affected continuing medical education (CME) for specialty trainees (STs). We share our academic institution's experience in mitigating the disruption on the CME programme amidst the pandemic. ⋯ Some programmes also utilized small group teachings with precautions and e-learning modules. Surgical residencies were disproportionately affected due to reductions in elective procedures but some ways to provide continued surgical exposure include going through archived surgical videos with technical pointers from experienced faculty and usage of surgical simulators. We should adapt CME sessions to keep trainees up to date with core clinical competencies as they will continue to manage both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 cases and this pandemic may last until year's end.
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Since the first cases in December 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has rapidly spread across the globe, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. Early clinical experiences have demonstrated the wide spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 presentations, including various reports of atypical presentations of COVID-19 and possible mimic conditions. This article summarises the current evidence surrounding atypical presentations of COVID-19 including neurological, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, otorhinolaryngology and geriatric features. ⋯ While SARS-CoV-2 is likely to remain on the differential diagnostic list for a plethora of presentations for the foreseeable future, clinicians should be cautious of ignoring other potential diagnoses due to availability bias. An awareness of atypical presentations allows SARS-CoV-2 to be a differential so that it can be appropriately investigated. A knowledge of infectious mimics prevents COVID-19 from overshadowing other diagnoses, hence preventing delayed diagnosis or even misdiagnosis and consequent adverse outcomes for patients.
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All animal life on earth is thought to have a common origin and have common genetic mechanisms. Evolution has enabled differentiation of species. ⋯ These infections from related species are known as zoonoses. COVID-19 is the latest example of a virus entering another species but HIV (and various strains of influenza) were previous examples.