Impact of COVID-19 on medical education and anxiety levels of medical students

ABSTRACT

Objective: To study the impact of covid-19 on medical education and anxiety level of medical students. Methodology: This prospective cross sectional study was done at Shifa College of mMedicine, Islamabad, Pakistan from 1st October 2020 to 15th November 2020. Medical students were randomly selected and a preformed questionnaire was circulated among them via Online Google forums. We used GAD-7 scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Results: Out of 122 respondents, 69 (56.5%) were female. Mean age was 22.1 ± 1.7 years. Almost all students had online education during COVID-19, however, 64 (52.4%) of them faced communication problems during online education. Only 32 (26.2%) were satisfied with this method. In this study, 46 (37.7%) respondents had anxiety;38.0% had moderate to severe and 27.0% had mild anxiety. Most of the anxious respondents were significantly younger (21.6 vs. 22.5 years, p = 0.01). Females were significantly more anxious (69.6% vs. 30.4%) than males (p < 0.03). Conclusion: During Covid-19 pandemic, anxiety and stress levels have increased among medical student.