The void: COVID-19 restrictions and junior doctor education opportunities

Abstract

Background

In the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic, the modes of hospital service delivery, education, training, and the context surrounding them has undergone enormous change and disruptions.

Objective

This study aimed to understand the ‘lived-experience’ of junior doctors in relation to their education, training, and professional development during the pandemic.

Methods

A qualitative study based on thematic and cohort narrative analysis. 20 junior doctors who trained at an Australian tertiary paediatric hospital during the time of COVID-19 restrictions were interviewed. Based on a phenomenological approach, the interviews examined junior doctors’ experiences in relation to medical education, adaptive education styles and the value attributed by participants to different forms of education provided to them.

Results

Four overarching themes were identified regarding trainee perceptions of the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on learning opportunities, both positive and negative. These were: ‘The void’ – learning expectations junior doctors felt were missed, education affordances, peers and networks, and professional identity.

Conclusion

The pace with which educators have adapted to new teaching modes should be harnessed to incite equally novel curriculum evolution, smart investment in clinical moments, reconnect learning communities and create robust virtual learning environments.

Keywords:

• Education medical
• COVID-19
• pediatric
• training
• training support

Disclosure statement

The manuscript has not been previously published and is not under consideration in any other journal. All listed authors are qualified for authorship and take full responsibility for the content of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Jye Gard

Jye Gard, BMedSci, MBBS, MPH, is an Education Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. He is a paediatrician, clinical educator and researcher.

Clare Polley

Clare Polley, MEd, BSc, is the Medical Education Manager at The Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Angela Cisternino

Angela Cisternino, Medical Education Program Coordinator, The Royal Children’s Hospital.

Amy Gray

Amy Gray, MBBS, PhD, GradDipClinEd, BMedSci, is the Director of Medical Education at The Royal Children’s Hospital and the Education Hub on the Melbourne Children’s Campus. She is a paediatrician, clinician educator and researcher.