Suicidal ideation, perception of personal safety, and career regret among emergency medicine residents during the COVID‐19 pandemic

• Published in: AEM education and training 2024-04, Vol.8 (2), p.e10955-n/a
• Main Authors: Akhavan, Arvin R., Zhan, Tiannan, Lall, Michelle D., Barton, Melissa A., Reisdorff, Earl J., Hu, Yue‐Yung, Bilimoria, Karl Y., Lu, Dave W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2472-5390; 2472-5390
• DOI: 10.1002/aet2.10955

Objectives The COVID‐19 pandemic was disruptive for trainees and may have affected career decisions for some learners. This study examined the impact of the pandemic on emergency medicine (EM) resident perceptions of their mental health, perceptions of personal safety, and career choice regret. Methods This was a cross‐sectional survey study administered following the 2021 American Board of Emergency Medicine In‐Training Examination (ITE). Survey measures included suicidal ideation (SI), COVID concerns in terms of infection prevention and control (IPC) training, COVID risk to self and/or COVID risk to family, and COVID‐related career regret. COVID concerns were compared by gender and race/ethnicity using Pearson's chi‐square tests. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to test the association between SI and COVID concerns, resident characteristics, and program characteristics. Results A total of 6980 out of 8491 EM residents (82.2%) from 244 programs completed the survey. Only 1.1% of participants reported insufficient training in COVID IPC practices. Participants were concerned about COVID risk to themselves (40.3%) and to their families (63.3%) due to their job roles. These concerns were more common among women or nonbinary (vs. men); all other races/ethnicities (vs. non‐Hispanic Whites); senior residents (vs. PGY‐1, PGY‐2 residents); and residents who were married or in relationships (vs. single or divorced). A total of 6.1% of participants reported that COVID made them reconsider choosing EM as their career. Career regret in this cohort was higher than that in the proportion (3.2%) expressing career regret in the 2020 ITE (p