Resident Well-Being Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background Preliminary studies reveal challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to the well-being of health care workers. Little is known about the effects of the pandemic on the well-being of graduate medical education (GME) residents or about protective factors and post-traumatic growth. Through deeper examination of resident well-being during this unique crisis, we can identify trends and associated lessons to apply broadly to resident well-being. Objective To characterize resident burnout, resilience, and loneliness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods All residents in any specialty at a single institution were anonymously surveyed semiannually for 2 years (2019–2020), including the time period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Surveys included demographics, the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Results Overall response rates were 53% (508 of 964) in spring 2019, 55% (538 of 982) in fall 2019, 51% (498 of 984) in spring 2020, and 57% (563 of 985) in fall 2020. The overall rates of burnout were stable across all time periods and did not change during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among frontline residents, burnout rates were higher than other resident populations in both the pre-and post-COVID-19 pandemic time periods. Resilience and loneliness measures were similar for frontline and non-frontline residents and remained stable during the pandemic. Conclusions Initial data from this single institution survey of all GME residents in the first 8 months of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated burnout and loneliness did not increase and resilience was preserved.