Podcasts: COVID-19

A new study just published in the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine found that pathology abnormalities composing SARS-CoV-2 placentitis cause widespread and severe placental destruction that can result in stillbirths.

In a recent panel discussion, pathologists talked about the implications of patients who postponed their care because of the pandemic, the potential issues laboratories could face as they return to seek treatment, and what roles pathologists will have in patient care as we move past the pandemic.

The CAP's Advocacy efforts have included several touchpoints with the Administration and Congress. In this CAPcast, Jonathan Myles, MD, FCAP, will discuss the CAP’s actions this year to influence the government’s response to the pandemic.

Surveys have shown hesitancy among African Americans to take the COVID-19 vaccine, much to the concern of physicians and public health experts, who emphasize the perils posed by immunization gaps in certain populations to overall public health.

In this CAPcast, Dr. Vaught discusses the special challenges involved in developing protocols to work with biospecimens collected from patients during an infectious disease emergency, as well as the role that biobanks play in the development of COVID vaccines and therapies.

In this CAPcast interview, Dr. Thomas Wheeler discusses the survey’s findings, which confirm the pandemic's ongoing adverse effects on pathologists as the United States has relied on COVID-19 testing throughout this national crisis.

Introducing a new antigen proficiency testing program for SARS-CoV-2 virus to complement existing programs for molecular and serology PT, the CAP now offers laboratories a complete suite of PT and quality improvement programs for all COVID-19-related testing.

To meet the demand for SARS-CoV-2 molecular testing, many laboratories have expanded testing capacity by adding multiple molecular instruments. However, this has left laboratories with questions regarding proficiency testing (PT) requirements for these additional instruments, as two CAP members, Dr. Bobbi Pritt and Dr. Lauren Pearson, explain in this CAPcast interview.

Regularly published research findings seem to question the validity or efficacy of many of the testing methods – and PCR is no different, as Dr. Sophia Yohe explains in this CAPcast interview.

Amidst the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, the autopsies from early COVID patients revealed significant findings, explained Mt Sinai pathologist Mary Fowkes, MD, FCAP, in this CAPcast before her sudden death in November 2020.

In a laboratory setting with fast-paced changes and heavy demands on staff, day-to-day communication across departments is challenging, yet paramount to resource sharing and real-time problem-solving. To improve communication across departments, the laboratory at Seattle Children’s Hospital has been using daily huddles for several years, explains Dr. Joe Rutledge in this CAPcast.

In this CAPcast, Dr. Daniel Rhoads, Section Head of Microbiology at the Cleveland Clinic and Dr. Elitza Theel, Director of Infectious Disease Serology from Mayo Clinic explain the clinical use of antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2 and describe the work of the CAP’s Microbiology and Diagnostic Immunology and Flow Cytometry Committees to develop the new proficiency testing program SARS-CoV-2 Serology (COVS).

In this CAPcast, Dr. Bobbi Pritt, Director of the Clinical Parasitology Laboratory and Co-Director of Vector-borne Diseases Laboratory Services at Mayo Clinic, discusses what pathologists and laboratories need to know about COV2.

In this CAPcast interview, Dr. Richard Scanlan discusses his experiences bringing COVID-19 testing online at his institution, including some lessons learned. Dr. Scanlan is the medical director of the Oregon Health and Sciences University Hospital laboratory in Portland.

In this CAPcast, Dr. Baird discusses lessons learned from testing and personnel challenges when ramping up testing capacity.

In this CAPcast interview, Dr. Michael Mina, Associate Medical Director of Clinical Microbiology and Molecular Virology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Department of Pathology in Boston, discusses the current outlook of the virus and what pathologists need to know about their role in diagnosis and treating patients suspected to have contracted this virus.