TY - JOUR
T1 - The Psychiatric Burden on Medical Students in New York City Entering Clinical Clerkships During the COVID-19 Pandemic
AU - Saali, Alexandra
AU - Stanislawski, Emma R.
AU - Kumar, Vedika
AU - Chan, Chi
AU - Hurtado, Alicia
AU - Pietrzak, Robert H.
AU - Charney, Dennis S.
AU - Ripp, Jonathan
AU - Katz, Craig L.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the Office of Well-Being and Resilience (OWBR) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Ripp and Dr. Charney are members of the OWBR and had a role in the design of the data and writing of the report.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - For medical students first entering the clinical space in July 2020, the unique challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic threatened to amplify the psychological distress associated with clerkship rotations. This study aimed to characterize the mental health of third-year medical students starting clinical clerkships in the midst of a pandemic by assessing symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as risk, coping, and protective factors associated with psychological outcomes. Of 147 third-year medical students at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, 110 (75%) participated in this prospective survey-based study with 108 included in the final analysis. 43 (39.8%) respondents screened positive for symptoms of either MDD, GAD, or PTSD. Multiple regression analyses revealed that greater overall symptom severity was associated with more avoidant coping, more traumatic events witnessed, poorer student and leisure functioning, lower trait emotional stability, and lower social support. Worries related to COVID-19 did not significantly influence outcome variables. To better understand the role of the pandemic on psychological outcomes in third-year medical students, additional research should focus on the trajectory of these outcomes over the year during the coronavirus pandemic.
AB - For medical students first entering the clinical space in July 2020, the unique challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic threatened to amplify the psychological distress associated with clerkship rotations. This study aimed to characterize the mental health of third-year medical students starting clinical clerkships in the midst of a pandemic by assessing symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as risk, coping, and protective factors associated with psychological outcomes. Of 147 third-year medical students at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, 110 (75%) participated in this prospective survey-based study with 108 included in the final analysis. 43 (39.8%) respondents screened positive for symptoms of either MDD, GAD, or PTSD. Multiple regression analyses revealed that greater overall symptom severity was associated with more avoidant coping, more traumatic events witnessed, poorer student and leisure functioning, lower trait emotional stability, and lower social support. Worries related to COVID-19 did not significantly influence outcome variables. To better understand the role of the pandemic on psychological outcomes in third-year medical students, additional research should focus on the trajectory of these outcomes over the year during the coronavirus pandemic.
KW - Anxiety
KW - Coronavirus
KW - Depression
KW - Medical education
KW - Psychological resilience
KW - Ptsd
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116831394&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11126-021-09955-2
DO - 10.1007/s11126-021-09955-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 34618278
AN - SCOPUS:85116831394
SN - 0033-2720
VL - 93
SP - 419
EP - 434
JO - Psychiatric Quarterly
JF - Psychiatric Quarterly
IS - 2
ER -