Anxiety and insecurity in medical interns: the impact of the pandemic COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose: We aimed to assess anxiety among medical interns and to identify changes regarding their perspective about the profession during the pandemic period in Brazil, between November 2020 and February 2021. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study which medical interns answered an online survey questionnaire. The assessment was performed using the validated questionnaire General Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7). Results: 162 responses were collected, mean age of 24.9 years, majority female (66.7%); 83.3% had the option of returning to practical assistance. Among these, 35% claimed to have had contact with suspects COVID-19 patients and 13% had a positive test for COVID-19. GAD-7 scores showed that 33.4% were qualified as “Normal”, while mild (37%), moderate (22.8%) or severe symptoms of anxiety (6.8%). A GAD-7 score positive for TAG was found in 29.6% of them. Anxiety was significantly associated (p=0.013) with questioning the choice of Medicine as a profession. Conclusions: We found a high frequency of interns with symptoms of anxiety, higher compared to similar studies prior to the pandemic. In addition, medical interns with anxiety were the ones who most questioned the choice of profession.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• Pandemic
• Medical students
• Mental health
• Anxiety