Psychological and professional impact of COVID-19 lockdown on French dermatologists: Data from a large survey

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the extent to which COVID-19-related lockdown affected dermatologists.

Methods: An anonymous online survey was proposed to all French dermatologists and dermatology residents to assess the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on their professional activity, their level of stress and their psychological state, as well as their coping strategies.

Results: Exactly 800 dermatologists completed the survey. The respondents noted changes in behaviour in their professional and personal environment. The number of cancelled or rescheduled appointments was very high, with a huge financial impact for private practitioners. Stigmatisation was also reported. Anxiety and a feeling of increased stress were very frequent. Increased substance use was also reported.

Conclusion: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown was significant for French dermatologists, with risks to their own health, profound changes in their practice, and financial and psychological impact, but also the development of new consultation and evaluation strategies to improve their work-life balance.

Keywords: COVID-19; Dermatologist; Lockdown; Psychological impact.

Fig. 1

Loss of income. Physicians working in hospitals experienced significantly lower financial loss (ANOVA; P > 0.001) compared with groups working in private practice and the locum group (P < 0.01 for the respective pair-wise comparisons).

Fig. 2

Increase in substance use. In all four groups, up to 35% of physicians reported an increase in substance use, with a significantly higher increase among hospital doctors compared to private practitioners (sole); (ANOVA: P = 0.0308; direct comparison; P < 0.05 hospital vs. sole private practice).

Fig. S1 Cancelled and rescheduled appointments. All four dermatology practice groups had to cancel or extensively reschedule their appointments. The group most affected was that of locum dermatologists, who had a significantly higher cancellation/reschedule rate than the hospital group (ANOVA: P = 0 0384; direct comparison; P < 0.05 hospital vs. locum).

Fig. S2 Feeling of concern for themselves. Dermatologists working in private practice were experienced slightly more concern for themselves than doctors working in hospital settings; a statistical trend (P = 0.0520) was noted but was below the level of statistical significance.

Fig. S3 Emotional effects of social distancing. Social distancing had a significantly higher impact on physicians working in hospitals compared to those working in private practice (ANOVA: P = 0.0099; followed by Dunn's test, with significant differences between the hospital group and both private practice groups; P < 0.05).