Can COVID Change Career Choice?: A survey of medical students

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has led to substantial changes in the delivery of healthcare and medical education. Little is known about how the pandemic has altered medical students' perceptions in regard to career choice. Methods The authors developed and implemented a multi-center survey that evaluated medical students' career choice before and during the coronavirus pandemic. The survey was distributed to all levels of medical students (MS) at nine medical schools across the country from November 2020 to January 2021. The study was deemed exempt by the Institutional Review Board at the host institution, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, and all participating sites. Results 1431 students completed the survey. The COVID pandemic was cited as a reason for a changed interest in specialty by 193 (13.5%) students. The most common reason for specialty change was the students’ clinical experience, followed by a desire to be on the front lines, and personal/family health concerns. There was a significant association between career change and degree of interest among students interested in emergency medicine (EM) as their future specialty before the COVID pandemic as well as during the COVID pandemic. Living with an immunocompromised individual had a significant association with a reduction of interest in EM. There was a significant association between EM rotation completion and how interested students were in EM as their future specialty before the COVID pandemic and during the COVID pandemic. Among EM interested students whose specialty interest was changed by the COVID pandemic, 34 (41.5%) became less favorable to EM, 28 (34.2%) stayed the same, and 20 (24.4%) students became more favorable to EM. Conclusions The impact of COVID-19 on medical students’ career choice is a complicated matter that involves both personal and professional factors. It appears that there is a trend towards less interest in the field of EM with multifactorial influences, some of which are related to the COVID-19 pandemic.