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©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Educational, psychosocial, and clinical impact of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic on medical students in the United States
Veronica Frank, Anjali Doshi, Natalie L Demirjian, Brandon K K Fields, Catherine Song, Xiaomeng Lei, Sravanthi Reddy, Bhushan Desai, Drayton C Harvey, Steven Cen, Ali Gholamrezanezhad
Veronica Frank, Semmelweis University Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University Faculty of Medicine, Budapest 1085, Hungary
Anjali Doshi, Brandon K K Fields, Catherine Song, Drayton C Harvey, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, United States
Natalie L Demirjian, Department of Integrative Anatomical Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, United States
Xiaomeng Lei, Sravanthi Reddy, Bhushan Desai, Steven Cen, Ali Gholamrezanezhad, Department of Radiology, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, United States
Author contributions: Doshi A and Frank V drafted the survey for the present study; Doshi A managed the survey edits, coding the survey, and submission; Desai B obtained IRB approval; Demirjian NL, Fields BKK, and Song C assisted in survey question editing rephrasing; Desai B, Reddy S, and Gholamrezanezhad A reviewed study documents, survey modifications, and provided input; Doshi A, Frank V, Demirjian NL, Fields BKK, Harvey DC facilitated network outreach; Lei X and Cen S performed statistical analysis on the data; Doshi A and Frank V drafted the manuscript. Prior to submission all authors provided edits; Doshi A and Frank V equally contributed to the work.
Institutional review board statement: The Institutional Review Board of USC determined this study to be exempt from review (application number UP-20-00314).
Informed consent statement: The study was a survey, for which informed consent was waived by IRB, as no clinical or identifying information from the participants were recorded.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Ali Gholamrezanezhad, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, 1500 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033, United States.
a.gholamrezanezhad@yahoo.com
Received: December 17, 2021
Peer-review started: December 17, 2021
First decision: February 21, 2022
Revised: March 10, 2022
Accepted: April 22, 2022
Article in press: April 22, 2022
Published online: May 25, 2022
Processing time: 153 Days and 10.1 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic prompted abrupt closures of medical schools affecting education, exams, and residency applications for United States medical students.
Research motivation
The survey was drafted by two medical students who faced on-campus closure's of their medical schools and the uncertainty of it's impact on medical education. We wanted to determine potential outcomes caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on medical students and examine what measures should be taken in the future to better prepare students for pandemics.
Research objectives
The aim of the study was to determine what specific factors impacted medical students, their anxiety, and the effect on medical education. It is important to examine these factors and determine what can be done in the future to prevent similar outcomes.
Research methods
The survey was drafted by two medical students, revised by multiple attending physicians, and a pilot test was performed prior to the survey launch. Anxiety scores were dichotomized to a 1-10 score and for descriptive analysis contingency tables by anxiety categories for categorical measurements and mean ± STD for continuous measurements followed by t-test or Wilcoxson rank were performed. Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator was utilized to select important predictors for the final multivariate model. The final model was fitted by Hierarchical Poisson regression model.
Research results
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic greatly impacted medical students' anxiety levels. There was a strong educational and clinical impact and students were faced with many uncertainties, driving up their anxiety levels. It has become evident the need for mental health resource accessibility for medical students is crucial. We still need to better understand the long term effects the pandemic will have on these students as they transition into becoming doctors and how medical schools can better prepare students for future pandemics or global health crises.
Research conclusions
This study provides insight on important information about how medical students have experienced and been affected by the pandemic. We recommend that efforts be placed in the healthcare system readiness for public health crisis, the development of medical school curricular for public health and mass casualty planning, along with further mental health support. We encourage research on medical education that is focused on what has been found to be critically essential: training students in tele-medicine and virtual care.
Research perspectives
Further research should be focused on the long-term effects of the pandemic on medical students, especially as they transition into residency. Research should also be conducted on training students in virtual care and preparedness for future public health crises.
