EP.TU.833The F2 Cohort of COVID19: The impact on Career development – a survey analysis

Abstract

Abstract In March 2020 the coronavirus outbreak was announced as a global pandemic by WHO, in response to the pandemic the NHS underwent huge changes. This included recalling foundation doctors and cancelling the changeover into their final rotations. There have been studies into the impact of the pandemic on junior doctor training and wellbeing, however none looking specifically at their career development. An online survey was distributed to a cohort of Foundation Year 2 Doctors (F2s) in one NHS trust. This specifically asked about the impact of not rotating, specialty tasters, courses and the overall impact of the pandemic. The results of this study show that F2 doctors report weaker specialty applications alongside missed career development opportunities. However, the main influence of COVID-19 was reported to be on the cohort’s personal lives. This study concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected both F2 doctor’s professional and personal lives, and it would be useful to follow up the cohort’s career development in the long-term as well as investigate the impacts in other NHS foundation trusts in the country.