Plastic Surgery Training During Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: A Quantitative Study on Trainees' Wellness and Education

Abstract

Purpose: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had far reaching impacts on all aspects of the healthcare system, including plastic surgery training. Due to reduction in the number of elective surgery cases and need for social distancing, plastic surgery education has shifted from the operating room to the virtual learning environment. Although these changes have been qualitatively described, the authors present a quantitative analysis of plastic surgery training changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study has identified residents' greatest impediments and inquired about suggestions for further improvements. Our goal is to help residency programs through the COVID-19 pandemic era and contribute to future guidelines when residency education encounters additional unexpected changes.

Methods: An institutional review board approved anonymous survey using Qualtrics was forwarded on April 23, 2020 to US plastic surgery program directors to be distributed to plastic surgery residents and fellows. Questions centered on the impact of COVID-19 on residents' well-being, education and career plans results were collected for data analysis. Residents were given the option to be in a raffle to win a $50 amazon gift card. Completion of the survey was both anonymous and voluntary.

Results: A total of 69 trainees responded (52 integrated residents and 17 independent fellows) from 18 states. Fifty-one percent were male and 49% were female. Fifty-six percent of trainees plan to complete a fellowship program after graduation, 31% will join private practice. Nine percent of trainees reported changes in their postgraduation plans due to the pandemic, 67% were senior trainees. Of those whose goals were affected by COVID-19 pandemic, 56% opted to pursue additional fellowship training. They described reduced operative exposure and cancelations of elective surgeries (50%), the limited availability of private practice jobs (37.5%), and financial reasons (12.5%) for their decision. Twelve percent reported being concerned about not meeting the necessary requirements to finish their residency and graduate on time. Seventy-six percent of trainees expressed concerns about the health and safety of themselves, family and loved ones. Forty-nine percent of trainees reported increased levels of stress since the onset of the pandemic. Ninety-seven percent of trainees reported having reduction in their operative time during the COVID-19 pandemic. They utilized their nonoperative time for online education modules (84%), educational readings (82%), and research (80%). Plastic surgery trainees learned about national webinars through emails from professional society (83%), co-resident/fellow (77%), program director emails (74%), and social media (22%). Webinars attended were mostly through virtual platform modalities, among which Zoom and Webex were the most preferred. Less interactions with colleagues and faculty was the biggest barrier to adopting virtual conferences. Despite this, 72% agreed that having grand rounds, didactics and journal clubs online increased attendance. Additionally, 88% of respondents expressed interests in attending professional society sponsored virtual grand rounds in the future.

Conclusions: Results from our survey demonstrated that the overwhelming majority of plastic surgery residents have had reductions in operative times and widespread curriculum changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. These recent changes have increased residents' stress levels and adversity affected their future career plans. Additionally, COVID-19 has heralded an increase in virtual conferences and learning modules. Plastic surgery trainees expressed a preference for virtual educational platforms and interest in continuing virtual didactics in the future. This may irreversibly change the landscape of future plastic surgery training.

FIGURE 1

Factors that impacted residents’ decision to change their postgraduation plans.

FIGURE 2

Activities performed by residents during nonoperative time.