Immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CTSA TL1 and KL2 training and career development

Abstract

Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) TL1 trainees and KL2 scholars were surveyed to determine the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on training and career development. The most negative impact was lack of access to research facilities, clinics, and human subjects, plus for KL2 scholars lack of access to team members and need for homeschooling. TL1 trainees reported having more time to think and write. Common strategies to maintain research productivity involved time management, virtual connections with colleagues, and shifting to research activities not requiring laboratory/clinic settings. Strategies for mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on training and career development are described.

Keywords: COVID-19; KL2; TL1; career development; research training.

Fig. 1.

Graphic representation of the relative numbers by state of TL1 trainee and KL2 scholar survey respondents (April 3–13, 2020) and the number of COVID-19 cases (based on Johns Hopkins University data as of April 16, 2020, adapted from reference [13]). Blue circles, TL1 trainees; orange circles, KL2 scholars; gray circles, COVID-19 cases.

Fig. 2.

Percentage of respondents indicating high or total impact (4 and 5 on a 5-point Likert scale from 0 = no impact to 5 = total impact). (A) Responses to the question “How are these factors negatively impacting your research?”: personal/mental health, health of loved ones, finances, homeschooling, home environment, access to core facilities, access to laboratory, access to clinic/human research subjects, access to experimental animals, access to supplies, access to team members, access to mentors, graduation timeline. (B) Reponses to the question “What factors have positively impacted your research?”: time to think and write, new research ideas arising from pandemic, and other. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences between TL1 trainees and KL2 scholars (all P values < 0.05). See Supplemental Tables 1 and 2 for raw data and bivariate statistical analyses.

Fig. 3.

Percentage of respondents including each theme in response to the question “What strategies are you implementing to maintain your productivity?” Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences between TL1 trainees and KL2 scholars (P < 0.01). See Supplemental Table 3 for qualitative data, including theme definitions, frequencies, and bivariate statistical analyses.