Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Resident Physician Clinical and Educational Work Hours at a Large Sponsoring Institution

The COVID-19 pandemic affected graduate medical education (GME) by decreasing elective procedures and disrupting didactic learning activities in 2020. Editorials have hypothesized that resident physicians worked fewer hours, therefore losing valuable experience, but we are not aware of studies that have objectively assessed changes in hours worked.

This study aims to identify differences secondary to the COVID-19 pandemic in resident work hours across all specialties at 3 geographically dispersed, integrated academic hospitals in a large sponsoring institution.

We obtained de-identified work hour data from all residency programs at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Florida, and Minnesota. Resident work hours were compared between 2020 and 2019 from March to May.

Work hours for 1149 and 1118 residents during the pandemic and control periods respectively were compared. Decreases in resident work hours were seen, with the largest decrease demonstrated in April 2020 when 19 of 43 programs demonstrated significantly decreased work hours. Residents worked more hours from home in April 2020 compared to the previous year (Arizona: mean 1 hour in 2019 vs 5.2 hours in 2020, P<.001; Florida: mean 0.7 hour in 2019 vs 6.5 hours in 2020, P<.001; Minnesota: mean 0.8 hour in 2019 vs 10.2 hours in 2020, P<.001).

The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a decrease in work hours in some, but not all, specialties. The decrease in on-site work was only partially offset by an increased number of hours worked from home.