COVID-19’s impact on family medicine resident training and wellness

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 global pandemic has raised many challenges in training family medicine residents. Family medicine is at the frontline for treating and managing patients with COVID-19. Attention is needed on the critical issue of the effect of the pandemic on resident training, the safety of those performing needed medical services, and the psychological well-being of trainees. Methods We performed a cross-sectional, 25-question survey-based study to evaluate the perceived effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on family medicine residents’ training and residents’ well-being in the state of Texas. Results A total of 250 Texas-based family medicine residents were surveyed with a response rate of 12.8% (n = 32). After the pandemic began, all residents worried about exposing their loved ones to COVID-19, and 65% felt like the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted their training overall. Respondents indicated that changes occurred in their respective residency curricula that altered training such as canceling of scheduled lectures (84.3%) and more telemedicine visits (56.25%). There was a significant difference for postgraduate year level and the effect on rotation assignments, with more disruption to the first- and third-year residents (P = 0.03). Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic has had a notable impact on the perception of quality of training and mental health within family medicine. Our findings may guide programs in how to proactively target pandemic-related training challenges.