The price of internship through COVID-19: 1st year physicians report substantial mental health symptoms during the pandemic
- PMID: 36029557
- PMCID: PMC9388293
- DOI: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2022.08.002
The price of internship through COVID-19: 1st year physicians report substantial mental health symptoms during the pandemic
Abstract
Objectives: To examine the prevalence of mental health symptoms among medical interns working for the first time as physicians in a large tertiary hospital in Israel during the 1st COVID year.
Methods: All interns who worked for at least 2 months during the 1st COVID year (March 2020-February 2021) at the Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (TASMC), a large tertiary general hospital in Israel were approached simultaneously during April-May 2021, and were requested to fill in an online survey. In each questionnaire, the interns were asked to refer to the worst time they endured the symptoms described. Included were all medical. Depression and anxiety symptoms, post-traumatic stress symptoms and Burnout measures were evaluated using validated questionnaires. Depressive/anxiety symptoms were defined as primary end measures. We assessed the association between depression and anxiety symptoms, and demographic, post-traumatic and burnout measures.
Results: 145 out of 188 interns completed the study (77% overall response rate). The mean age was 30.36 ± 2.97. Almost half the interns (47%) reported depression/anxiety symptoms. The high depression/anxiety group was characterized by a lower mean age (29.87 ± 2.93 vs. 30.92 ± 2.91, p = 0.041), higher post-traumatic symptoms (15.62 ± 13.32 vs. 3.63 ± 5.59, p < 0.0001) and higher scores in 2/3 burnout subscales - emotional exhaustion (5.09 ± 1.29 vs. 3.61 ± 1.38, p = 0.000001) and depersonalization (3.83 ± 1.71 vs. 2.94 ± 1.46, p = 0.002). 11.4% of interns in the full sample reported they used cannabis or alcohol as "self-medication".
Conclusions: medical interns serving for their first year as physicians during the COVID pandemic, developed mental symptoms in alarming numbers. The findings point to a crucial need to implement active interventions to protect these doctors, so that they can safely embark on their medical careers, specifically in times of global health crises.
Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Figures
Similar articles
-
[Burnout, anxiety, insomnia and depressive symptoms among French outpatient physicians in the second wave of COVID-19: Comparison between general practitioners and specialists].Encephale. 2024 Apr;50(2):192-199. doi: 10.1016/j.encep.2023.01.013. Epub 2023 Apr 6. Encephale. 2024. PMID: 37121809 Free PMC article. French.
-
Psychological status and related factors of resident physicians during the release of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in China.Front Public Health. 2024 Apr 17;12:1322742. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1322742. eCollection 2024. Front Public Health. 2024. PMID: 38694979 Free PMC article.
-
Physician burnout, associated factors, and their effects on work performance throughout first-year internships during the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand: a cross-sectional study.BMC Public Health. 2025 May 28;25(1):1967. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-23172-7. BMC Public Health. 2025. PMID: 40437382 Free PMC article.
-
[Which interventions improve the well-being of medical students? A review of the literature].Encephale. 2020 Feb;46(1):55-64. doi: 10.1016/j.encep.2019.09.004. Epub 2019 Nov 22. Encephale. 2020. PMID: 31767254 Review. French.
-
Tools for measuring medical internship experience: a scoping review.Hum Resour Health. 2021 Jan 14;19(1):10. doi: 10.1186/s12960-021-00554-7. Hum Resour Health. 2021. PMID: 33446218 Free PMC article.
Cited by
-
Examining Burnout Among Intern Physicians During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights and Solutions from Qualitative Research.Healthcare (Basel). 2025 Feb 6;13(3):335. doi: 10.3390/healthcare13030335. Healthcare (Basel). 2025. PMID: 39942524 Free PMC article.
References
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical
Miscellaneous