Abstract
The COVID-19 outbreak has caused challenges for healthcare systems worldwide. Recent data indicates that the psychological impact has differed with respect to occupation. In many countries, medical residents have been on the front line of this pandemic. However, data on the psychological impact of infectious disease outbreaks, and COVID-19 in particular, on medical residents are relatively lacking. The aim of our study was to assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical residents working on the front and second line. An electronic survey was sent to all medical residents in Qatar. Depression, anxiety and stress were assessed by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items. Professional quality of life was measured by the Professional Quality of Life measure. Of the 640 medical residents contacted, 127 (20%) responded. A considerable proportion of residents reported symptoms of depression (42.5%), anxiety (41.7%) and stress (30.7%). Multivariate analysis of variance showed significant effects of seniority in residency, with junior residents having poorer outcomes. In addition, there was a statistically significant interaction effect with moderate effect sizes between gender and working on the front line, as well as gender, working on the front line and seniority, on mental health outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic may have a negative impact on junior residents' mental health. Preventive measures to reduce stress levels and easy access to professional mental health services are crucial.
Highlights
The COVID-19 outbreak has caused challenges for healthcare systems worldwide
Medical residents form a substantial segment of the healthcare staff responding to the COVID-19 pandemic internationally
The ‘normal’ daily, weekly, monthly and annual schedules planned by the residency programmes, which were to be in effect at this time, have been heavily affected; for example, deployment of medical residents as primary care doctors in screening facilities; shifting supervision, didactics and educational conferences online; and lack of clinical exposure because of curtailing office visits.[4]
Summary
An electronic survey was sent to all medical residents in Qatar. We conducted a cross-sectional study among medical residents from all specialties in Qatar. All residency programmes in the country are with HMC, an institution accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical EducationInternational (ACGME-I). A resident is a physician enrolled in an ACGME-accredited residency programme, usually after graduation from the medical school. The residency programme is designed to prepare resident physicians to practice independently in a primary specialty.[17]. The survey took place from 17 May to 16 June 2020. During this period, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Qatar exceeded 80 000, with 80 deaths. HMC, the main public healthcare system in Qatar, is the largest provider of tertiary health services in the country, accounting for more than 90% of the care delivered, with only few and relatively small private healthcare systems
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