Absence does make the heart grow fonder. Three years have passed since our last in person CHEST Challenge Championship.
It was CHEST 2019 New Orleans when we last saw the enthusiasm and camaraderie of talented fellow teams cheered on by that irreplaceable, engaged audience, creating moments and memories through that magical combination of education and entertainment (“edutainment”). We were blissfully ignorant then to the terrible challenges that would soon come with the pandemic.
Courtesy CHEST
Fellows from across the country first compete in a challenging, secure online knowledge quiz from which top-performing programs are selected as finalists.
All along the way, the participants engage in social media challenges that build excitement and collegiality (see tweeted image above). A recent commentary in the CHEST® journal highlighted the competition’s important milestones,1 and organizers continue to innovate year after year.
Dr. William Kelly, creator of CHEST Challenge, noted, “Our 20th anniversary broadcast during CHEST 2021 was our most innovative, had the most generous prizes, and the largest, most interactive audience to date. Our team of amazing committee members, CHEST staff, and contributors are somehow going even bigger this year! When combining never-before-seen challenges, surprises, giveaways, and a special ‘opening act’ with the joy and energy of all of us being back together again in person – I just can’t wait.
“That necessary pivot to online-only events in 2020 and 2021 brought new challenges to the game but also provided lessons to be learned, inspired reflection, and gave us opportunities to interact, play, and learn together in new ways.
“As chair of the Training and Transitions Committee, I recall the innovations: CHEST Challenge has always been about innovation in medical education.
“Two decades of history allowed pushing the boundaries into the online arena, allowing competitors to play from their own institutions, audience to join from home, and the camaraderie and support characteristics of the CHEST community to transcend virtual barriers.
“Using advanced, remote video recordings with virtual proctoring by judges, we were able to offer more extensive skills challenges. Highly engaged online audiences had contagious and hilarious chat room banter. And, virtual watch parties allowed for greatly increased viewership. Leveraging social media, the audience became part of the competition, including winning substantial prizes for themselves.
“It takes an extraordinary number of dedicated individuals to deliver the experience.”
Dr. Matthew Miles, past chair of T&T Committee, comments: “One of the joys of working on CHEST Challenge is just being part of the production team. We have brilliant faculty who specialize in cutting-edge education, visionaries who concoct new and imaginative ways for fellows to compete, and incredible CHEST staff who somehow pull off an amazing event every year.
Courtesy CHEST
“I’m so thankful for the way that our CHEST community celebrates learning and prioritizes our fellows-in-training,” he added.
“Years after each in-person championship, the attendees still comment on the electrifying atmosphere they thoroughly enjoyed.
“It is literally a nail-biter – you can see people in the audience sitting at the edge of their seats, holding their breath while teams play to win big in surprise hands-on simulation-based challenges during the Championship,” says Dr. Subani Chandra, who helped implement surprise simulation challenges into the live CHEST Challenge Championship in 2017 that are now an integral part of the experience.
On October 18, at CHEST 2022, championship fellow teams from New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist, Mayo Clinic, and Brooke Army Medical Center, cheered on live by all of us, will compete in order to hoist the Rosen Cup and be declared the CHEST Challenge Champions!
Come experience for yourself the rapid-fire pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine knowledge review, the thrill of competition, and see the energy of some of our best and brightest fellows.
Being together in person again to support and learn with each other will be a big win for all of us.
CHEST Challenge is sponsored by VIATRIS
Reference
1. Danckers M, et al. CHEST Challenge turns twenty. Chest. 2022;161(3):860.