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BackgroundDue to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, patient care and medical education have faced many significant changes. The Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Council of Academic Plastic Surgery officially recommended halting all student rotations and interviews for the year. This change has unfortunately fallen squarely at the onset of a vital season for education and recruitment of plastic surgery subinterns. This article presents a curriculum for a single institution's virtual surgical subinternship to help inspire ideas and inspiration for programs developing their own virtual subinternships.MethodsThe goals for the virtual surgical subinternship are focused on student preparation for residency and remain similar to those outlined by the core competencies for in-person rotations. The first virtual subinternship in plastic surgery modeled after the curriculum presented was offered as a 2-week course starting May of 2020.ResultsThe components of the curriculum include a self-study syllabus, virtual case reviews, virtual suture laboratory, educational teleconferences, participation in research, and mentorship meetings. The 2-week course has approximately 25 hours of conferences and teaching, involving direct interaction with residents and faculty, and approximately 15 hours of self-directed learning.ConclusionsTo the authors' knowledge, this was the first virtual subinternship offered for rising fourth-year medical students. They strongly encourage other residency training programs to offer similar virtual learning opportunities for medical students, particularly for those without access to a home plastic surgery training program. The curriculum presented in this article is simply to provide ideas, inspiration, and a potential framework for programs wishing to create similar virtual learning opportunities.

To estimate COVID-19 infections and deaths in healthcare workers (HCWs) from a global perspective during the early phases of the pandemic. Systematic review. Two parallel searches of academic bibliographic databases and grey literature were undertaken until 8 May 2020. Governments were also contacted for further information where possible. There were no restrictions on language, information sources used, publication status and types of sources of evidence. The AACODS checklist or the National Institutes of Health study quality assessment tools were used to appraise each source of evidence. Publication characteristics, country-specific data points, COVID-19-specific data, demographics of affected HCWs and public health measures employed. A total of 152 888 infections and 1413 deaths were reported. Infections were mainly in women (71.6%, n=14 058) and nurses (38.6%, n=10 706), but deaths were mainly in men (70.8%, n=550) and doctors (51.4%, n=525). Limited data suggested that general practitioners and mental health nurses were the highest risk specialities for deaths. There were 37.2 deaths reported per 100 infections for HCWs aged over 70 years. Europe had the highest absolute numbers of reported infections (119 628) and deaths (712), but the Eastern Mediterranean region had the highest number of reported deaths per 100 infections (5.7). COVID-19 infections and deaths among HCWs follow that of the general population around the world. The reasons for gender and specialty differences require further exploration, as do the low rates reported in Africa and India. Although physicians working in certain specialities may be considered high risk due to exposure to oronasal secretions, the risk to other specialities must not be underestimated. Elderly HCWs may require assigning to less risky settings such as telemedicine or administrative positions. Our pragmatic approach provides general trends, and highlights the need for universal guidelines for testing and reporting of infections in HCWs.

Cutaneous leukocytoclastic vasculitis (LCV) is type of small vessel vasculitis that commonly presents as palpable purpura involving the lower extremities and buttocks. Approximately half of cases are idiopathic, but the disease may be triggered by infection, drug reaction, inflammatory disease, or other causes. We report a case of leukocytoclastic vasculitis secondary to the novel anticoagulant rivaroxaban (Xarelto®).

Background: The rarity and heterogeneity of mucormycosis make treatment variable, and no prospective or randomized clinical trials exist in plastic surgery literature. The use of wound vacuum-assisted closure in combination with the instillation of amphotericin B to treat cutaneous mucormycosis is not well documented., Case Presentation: A 53-year-old man underwent left Achilles tendon reconstruction with allograft after a complete tear during exercise. About 1 week after the operation, he began having incisional breakdown later found to be secondary to mucormycosis infection, prompting presentation to an emergency department. The use of negative pressure wound therapy with wound vacuum-assisted closure and intervals of instilling amphotericin B facilitated infection control in this lower extremity mucormycosis infection., Conclusions: Patients with a localized mucormycosis infection may benefit from treatment with an instillation wound vacuum-assisted closure with topical amphotericin B as presented in this case study., Competing Interests: Author disclosures The authors have no conflicts of interest to report and received no funding for this case report., (Copyright © 2023 Frontline Medical Communications Inc., Parsippany, NJ, USA.)