The Impact of COVID-19 on Medical Students Pursuing Surgical Careers
Kanad Ghosh, BA, Jocellie E. Marquez, MD, MBA, Annet Kuruvilla, BS, Austin Ferrier, BS, Sagar Mulay, MD, Tara L. Huston, MD, FACS.
Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected millions of people, leading to restrictions on social interaction and travel which have caused significant distress amongst medical students. Applicants into surgical residency programs have likely been affected by the changes brought out by COVID-19. In this study, we examined the current status and future plans of medical students hoping to pursue a career in surgery.
METHODS: An IRB-approved REDCap survey was distributed to 141 American allopathic medical schools. Students interested in general, cardiothoracic, orthopedic, plastic, vascular, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology, and urology were included.
RESULTS: 177 responses were included. There were significantly increased stress levels on a ten-point scale when comparing the times before and after the COVID-19 pandemic (5.39 vs 6.70 respectively, p<0.001). Responders with lower Step 1 scores were significantly more likely to feel that COVID-19 would hurt their chances of matching into residency (p<0.001). Interestingly, when asking whether the participant changed his/her plans due to COVID-19, stratification by Step 1 score did not yield significant results (p=0.245).
Of the 177 responders, 78 (Group 1, 44%) were third-year medical students applying into residency in the 2020 application cycle. Pre- and post-COVID-19 stress levels showed similar differences amongst this group (5.51 vs 7.01, p<0.001) and a similar association of lower Step 1 score with decreased perception of matching likelihood (p<0.001). Ten participants expressed interest in applying to plastic surgery (Group 1a), two of which (20%) did not have a plastic surgery program at their home institution. When compared to the 2020 applicants in other surgical fields (n=68, Group 1b), significantly more plastic surgery applicants were initially planning on doing three or more away rotations (80% vs 36.8%, p=0.010). Plastic surgery applicants also relied on away rotations more heavily to meet faculty (90% vs 54.4%, p=0.033) and gain increased exposure to the field (60% vs 30.9%, p=.071) than did applicants to other surgical specialties. Large numbers of applicants in both groups experienced delays in taking Step exams (60% vs 67.6%, p=0.632) especially Step 2 CK (50% vs 57.4%, p=0.662). However, 0% of plastic surgery applicants and only 4.4% of other surgical applicants have changed their plans to apply due to COVID-19.
CONCLUSIONS:
This study demonstrates that COVID-19 has had a significant impact on future surgical residency applicants in the form of increased stress, delays in taking Step exams, and decreased perceived opportunity to gain experience in their specialty of choice.
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