Abstract
In late December of 2019, the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported in the city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in China, and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. Globally, as of 8 July 2020, there have been 11,669,259 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 539,906 deaths. In Saudi Arabia, the confirmed cases have already reached 223,327, with 161,096 patients confirmed to have recovered, and 2100 deaths. This study aims to determine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the training programs of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS) and assess trainees’ mental health status (i.e., anxiety and depression). Trainee evaluations on training programs were also sought in order to obtain insights for strategic planning necessary for curricular modifications or improvements to address the clinical learning needs of trainees during this pandemic. The main contribution of our work is an investigation of the incidence of depression and anxiety regarding COVID-19 within the community of residents and fellows. Furthermore, we elaborate on key responsive actions towards the enhancement of the mental health of trainees. Last but not least, we propose the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS) Model for Residents’ Mental Health Enhancement during the COVID-19 Pandemic, which consists of five integrative value layers for medical education and training, namely: the knowledge creation process and innovation; technological capabilities for personalized medicine and patient-centric healthcare with a social impact; innovative applications of technology-enhanced learning and web-based active learning approaches for medical training and education; residents’ wellbeing and the impact of COVID-19 in strategic layers. In our future work, we intend to enhance the proposed framework with studies on trainee satisfaction and the efficiency of different technology-enhanced learning platforms for medical education.
Highlights
The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on diverse aspects of medical training worldwide
We focus on the phenomenon of the medical training during COVID-19 times and we emphasize the analysis of the psychological factors that have an impact on the quality and efficiency of medical training
Of the 160 medical specialty training programs in 600 local and international training centers affiliated by Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, 1985 trainees participated in the survey and 1528 completed the GAD-7 anxiety and PHQ-9 depression questionnaires and were included in final data analysis
Summary
The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on diverse aspects of medical training worldwide. The Saudi government, with the collaboration of health agencies worldwide, imposed new policies and measures to contain and mitigate the spread of infection to individuals and communities This has limited medical students’ and trainees’ roles in the clinical environment, and their opportunities to gain new experiences. The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS) is a government agency that regulates health care-related practices and accreditation at all levels in Saudi Arabia. This is home to over 160 residency programs with more than 15,000 residents. In accordance with the precautionary health measures recommended by the competent authorities to prevent the spread of the emerging COVID-19, SCFHS endorsed a bundle of initiatives which were directed to support the residents and fellows.
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