Risk factors associated with physician trainee concern over missed educational opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic

BMC Medical Education

Sunny S. Lou¹  Thomas Kannampallil²  Bradley A. Evanoff³  Jennifer G. Duncan⁴  Charles W. Goss⁵ 

[1] Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, Campus Box 8054, 63110, St Louis, MO, USA;Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, Campus Box 8054, 63110, St Louis, MO, USA;Institute for Informatics, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA;Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA;Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA;Division of Biostatistics, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA;

关键词: COVID-19;    Residency;    Graduate medical education;    Surgical training;    Missed clinical opportunities;    Physician burnout;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-021-02665-0

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a transformation of clinical care practices to protect both patients and providers. These changes led to a decrease in patient volume, impacting physician trainee education due to lost clinical and didactic opportunities. We measured the prevalence of trainee concern over missed educational opportunities and investigated the risk factors leading to such concerns.MethodsAll residents and fellows at a large academic medical center were invited to participate in a web-based survey in May of 2020. Participants responded to questions regarding demographic characteristics, specialty, primary assigned responsibility during the previous 2 weeks (clinical, education, or research), perceived concern over missed educational opportunities, and burnout. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between missed educational opportunities and the measured variables.Results22% (301 of 1375) of the trainees completed the survey. 47% of the participants were concerned about missed educational opportunities. Trainees assigned to education at home had 2.85 [95%CI 1.33–6.45] greater odds of being concerned over missed educational opportunities as compared with trainees performing clinical work. Trainees performing research were not similarly affected [aOR = 0.96, 95%CI (0.47–1.93)]. Trainees in pathology or radiology had 2.51 [95%CI 1.16–5.68] greater odds of concern for missed educational opportunities as compared with medicine. Trainees with greater concern over missed opportunities were more likely to be experiencing burnout (p = 0.038).ConclusionsTrainees in radiology or pathology and those assigned to education at home were more likely to be concerned about their missed educational opportunities. Residency programs should consider providing trainees with research or at home clinical opportunities as an alternative to self-study should future need for reduced clinical hours arise.

【 授权许可】

CC BY