CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN RESIDENTS’ TRAINING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

There are limited studies reporting the opinions of residents from three main sciences which are surgical, internal medicine and basic medical sciences in Turkey. So, we need to reveal more opinions of residents on their trainings during pandemic to manage the trainings well during emerging situations in the future. It is aimed to reveal the opinions of residents from all main sciences on their training in medicine given at Karadeniz Technical University Faculty of Medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic process. The study was designed as qualitative phenomenological study,and includes focus group interviews. It was conducted between April 2021- March 2022. Gender, department and duration of residency were taken into account in order to ensure diversity in the determination of the participants. Interviews were conducted online through the Zoom. Content analyses was done by researchers. In our study, five focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 38 residents. The five themes that emerged are as follows: changes in education; health care delivery climate; scientific activities; emotions/feelings; structural problems, in education programs. It is necessary to design the frequency, duration and content intensity of online training activities. Scientific research and thesis studies have been adversely affected by the pandemic. However, the online scientific meetings provided during the pandemic were seen as important education opportunities. ‘Feeling of decreased emotional resillience’ is a new emerged emotional problem. The positive developments in the attitudes and behaviors of the society towards the health professionals during the pandemic contributed positively to the emotions of the residents.