Medical Students and COVID-19: Challenges and Supportive Strategies

Abstract

As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread across the world, it is also adversely affecting medical student education. In addition, COVID-19 poses several challenges to medical students’ physical and mental health and their professional identity formation. Medical students are experiencing increasing anxiety due to the COVID-19 disruption. Medical students show higher rates of depression, suicidal ideation, and stigmatization around depression and are less likely to seek support. It is therefore important to safeguard their mental health and implement effective strategies to support their educational, physical, mental, and professional well-being.