Residency training amid the COVID-19 pandemic: exploring the impact on mental health and training, a lesson from Iran.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has affected the training programs and the clinical schedules of surgical wards in many countries, including Iran. Also, the continuous involvement with COVID-19 patients has caused stress in health care workers; among them, residents are on the frontlines of care delivery. Therefore, we designed a study to assess the mental effects of these circumstances, and the effects on General Surgery and Obstetrics & Gynecology residency training in the busiest surgical departments of our university. METHODS: Participants of this cross-sectional study were residents of General Surgery and Obstetrics & Gynecology of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, and the conventional sampling method was used. We used a questionnaire consisting of 47 questions (mostly using multiple choice questions and answers on the Likert scale) about personal, familial, and demographic characteristics; training activities, and mental effects of COVID-19. RESULTS: The response rate was 63.5%. (127 filled questionnaires). Around 96% of the residents had emotional problems, 85.9% were highly stressed about contracting COVID-19, 81.3% were worried about transferring it to their families; and 78% believed that their residency training had been impaired. CONCLUSION: Overall, our study shows the negative impact of COVID-19 on mental health and the training of residents. We propose that appropriate emotional support and suitable planning for compensation of training deficits is provided for residents.

COVID-19 Outbreak and Consequent Delays in Schedules of the Breast Clinic: Effects on Patients' Breast and Emotional Symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: The pandemic of COVID-19 has affected many aspects of life, and emotional symptoms have been reported to worsen during this time. Also, elective visits in the Breast Clinic have been cancelled or postponed based on the priorities defined in local and international guidelines. Our aim was to investigate the effect of these delays on the breast symptoms and emotional status of our patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We called patients whose appointments should have taken place between March and May 2020. After asking for their consent to participate in the study, we asked questions about their breast and emotional symptoms and any worsening of these due to cancellation of their schedules because of the COVID-19 outbreak. We also inquired the relation of breast symptoms with news and thoughts about COVID-19, and if the patients or their close relatives or friends had been affected by COVID-19. We compared the worsening of breast symptoms in patients with and without a positive self- or family history of COVID-19. RESULTS: None of the breast or emotional symptoms had significantly got worse in the patients. Also, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the changes in their breast symptoms or emotional health. CONCLUSION: We believe that these results might be evidence in favor of the Breast Clinic triage system, which conforms to most international and specifically to our local recommended strategies.