COVID-19 Impact on Intern Exposure to Common Inpatient Diagnoses.

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Medicine
• Medical Education
• Epidemiology

Background:

• The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presented unprecedented challenges to healthcare systems globally.
• Medical training, particularly in pediatrics, relies heavily on diverse clinical experiences for resident competency development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clinical exposure of pediatric interns to common inpatient pediatric diagnoses.
• To compare intern clinical experiences during the pandemic with pre-pandemic periods.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of electronic medical record data from June 2020 to February 2021, compared with the same academic blocks from 2017 to 2020.
• Patient attribution to pediatric interns based on notes written during their hospital medicine rotation.
• Comparison of median number of notes written per intern per block for overall and specific diagnoses.

Main Results:

• A significant reduction in median notes per intern per block during the COVID-19 pandemic (96) compared to pre-pandemic (129).
• Decreased exposure to many common diagnoses, but increased exposure to mental health (4 vs 2) and suicidality (4.5 vs 0) cases.
• Reduced median shifts worked per intern per block during the pandemic (22 vs 23).

Conclusions:

• The COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant decrease in pediatric residents' exposure to numerous common inpatient diagnoses.
• Residency programs and educators must implement targeted curricular interventions to address the pandemic's impact on clinical training and ensure adequate resident exposure.