Anxiety, Uncertainty, and Resilience of Medical Students Worldwide during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted medical education worldwide. While healthcare professionals labored to ensure proper care for COVID-19 patients, medical students suffered from high rates of anxiety, uncertainty, burnout, and depressive symptoms. Whilst students in the pre-clinical phase of education faced disruption of didactic lectures and laboratory training, senior medical students faced uncertainty regarding their clinical rotations and internships, which are vital for practical exposure to healthcare. Several studies across the world demonstrated that clinical learning was significantly affected, with students in many countries completely cut off from in-person rotations. The disruption of the clinical curriculum coupled with a sense of failure to contribute at a time of significant need often led to despair. Reforms proposed and/or implemented by governments, medical advisory boards, medical schools, and other administrative bodies were felt to be insufficient by the medical student fraternity at large. Consequently, these students continue to face high rates of anxiety, depression, and a general sense of cynicism. In this student-authored perspective, we highlight the challenges faced by and the psychological impact on medical students directly or indirectly from the pandemic.

Combatting with challenges in medical education during COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed-methods study on the effectiveness of e-learning in pediatric clinical clerkship of a university hospital, Pakistan

“…Not being able to attend clinical rotations, labs, and lectures, along with the stress of a pandemic and social isolation, and the sense of failure for not being able to contribute significantly during a global medical crisis impacted their wellbeing tremendously (Mittal et al, 2021). This called for robust and diligent reforms and efforts in the world of online medical education, not just for continuing medical education, but also for student engagement, socialization, and wellbeing (Sarkar and Ozair, 2021). This transition was a challenge, especially for medical institutions where e-learning was never implemented as part of the medical education curriculum or partially or minimally utilized.…”