A UK perspective on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical student career perceptions

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ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the normal delivery of medical education globally. Following the cancelation of traditional course components such as elective placements, UK medical students have been able to carry out temporary roles within the NHS. We believe these events may have an effect on medical students’ future choice of specialty.

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Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical student career perceptions: a national survey study

Yasmeen M. Byrnes, Alyssa M. Civantos, Beatrice Go … (2020)

ABSTRACT Background & Objective The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting cancellation of medical student clinical rotations pose unique challenges to students’ educations, the impact of which has not yet been explored. Design This cross-sectional survey study collected responses from 13 April 2020 until 30 April 2020. Students at US allopathic medical schools completed the survey online. Results 1,668 responses were analyzed. A total of 337 (20.2%) respondents thought the pandemic would affect their choice of specialty, with differences across class years: 15.2% (53) of first-years (MS1s), 26.4% (92) of second-years (MS2s), 23.7% (162) of third-years (MS3s), and 9.7% (22) of fourth-years (MS4s) (p < 0.0001). Among all classes, the most common reason chosen was inability to explore specialties of interest (244, 72.4%), and the second was inability to bolster their residency application (162, 48.1%). Out of the MS3s who chose the latter, the majority were concerned about recommendation letters (68, 81.0%) and away rotations (62, 73.8%). As high as 17.4% (119) of MS3s said they were more likely to take an extra year during medical school as a result of the pandemic. Region of the US, number of local COVID cases, and number of local COVID deaths had no effect on whether respondents thought the pandemic would affect their specialty choice. Conclusions Our study found that about one-fifth of surveyed medical students currently believe that the COVID-19 pandemic will affect their choice of specialty, with many of these citing concerns that they cannot explore specialties or obtain recommendation letters. With prolonged suspension of clinical rotations, targeted efforts by medical schools to address these concerns through enhanced virtual curriculum development and advising strategies will become increasingly important. Further study is needed to explore whether these cross-sectional student perspectives will manifest as changes in upcoming National Residency Matching Program data.

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Covid-19: medical students to be employed by NHS as part of epidemic response

Elisabeth Mahase (2020)

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Characteristics of internal medicine residents who successfully match into cardiology fellowships

Michael Cullen, Kyle Klarich, Amy S Oxentenko … (2020)

Background The unique traits of residents who matriculate into subspecialty fellowships are poorly understood. We sought to identify characteristics of internal medicine (IM) residents who match into cardiovascular (CV) fellowships. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 8 classes of IM residents who matriculated into residency from 2007 to 2014. The primary outcome was successful match to a CV fellowship within 1 year of completing IM residency. Independent variables included residents’ licensing exam scores, research publications, medical school reputation, Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) membership, declaration of intent to pursue CV in the residency application personal statement, clinical evaluation scores, mini-clinical evaluation exercise scores, in-training examination (ITE) performance, and exposure to CV during residency. Results Of the 339 included residents (59% male; mean age 27) from 120 medical schools, 73 (22%) matched to CV fellowship. At the time of residency application, 104 (31%) had ≥1 publication, 38 (11%) declared intention to pursue CV in their residency application personal statement, and 104 (31%) were members of AOA. Prior to fellowship application, 111 (33%) completed a CV elective rotation. At the completion of residency training, 108 (32%) had ≥3 publications. In an adjusted logistic regression analysis, declaration of intention to pursue CV (OR 6.4, 99% CI 1.7–23.4; p < 0.001), completion of a CV elective (OR 7.3, 99% CI 2.8–19.0; p < 0.001), score on the CV portion of the PGY-2 ITE (OR 1.05, 99% CI 1.02–1.08; p < 0.001), and publication of ≥3 manuscripts (OR 4.7, 99% CI 1.1–20.5; p = 0.007) were positively associated with matching to a CV fellowship. Overall PGY-2 ITE score was negatively associated (OR 0.93, 99% CI 0.90–0.97; p < 0.001) with matching to a CV fellowship. Conclusions Residents’ matriculation into CV fellowships was associated with declaration of CV career intent, completion of a CV elective rotation, CV medical knowledge, and research publications during residency. These findings may be useful when advising residents about pursuing careers in CV. They may also help residents understand factors associated with a successful match to a CV fellowship. The negative association between matching into CV fellowship and overall ITE score may indicate excessive subspecialty focus during IM residency.

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Journal ID (nlm-ta): Med Educ Online

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Med Educ Online

Title: Medical Education Online

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

ISSN (Electronic): 1087-2981

Publication date (Electronic, pub): 20 August 2020

Publication date (Electronic, collection): 2020

Volume: 25

Issue: 1

Electronic Location Identifier: 1810968

Affiliations

[0001]Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester; , Manchester, UK

Author notes

CONTACT Fayez Elsawy fayez.elsawy@ 123456student.manchester.ac.uk Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd; , Manchester M13 9PL

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Publisher ID: 1810968

DOI: 10.1080/10872981.2020.1810968

PMC ID: 7482791

PubMed ID: 32815785

SO-VID: 1c18199a-7fba-411e-b1b4-fef775e30053

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

A UK perspective on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical student career perceptions

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Most cited references 5

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical student career perceptions: a national survey study

Covid-19: medical students to be employed by NHS as part of epidemic response

Characteristics of internal medicine residents who successfully match into cardiology fellowships

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