Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2025
Author Spotlight: Advancing Pathogen Detection and Disease Assessment in Real-Time Using M-ROSE
Published on: March 1, 2024
Employment Intention of Chinese Medical Students During the COVID-19 Epidemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey
Insights
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted Chinese medical students' career intentions, with nursing students and medical interns showing greater vulnerability. Psychological factors and demographics influenced their willingness to pursue certain medical specialties.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic placed medical personnel at the forefront of the global health crisis.
- Medical students, as future healthcare professionals, directly observed the pandemic's impact on their senior colleagues and educational experiences.
- Exposure to the epidemic's demands could significantly influence medical students' future career aspirations and employment intentions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Chinese medical students' employment intentions.
- To identify factors associated with these changes in career aspirations.
- To provide recommendations for future medical education strategies in response to public health emergencies.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study was conducted using an anonymous online questionnaire.
- The study involved 1114 participants, including clinical medicine students, nursing students, and medical interns across various Chinese provinces.
- The questionnaire assessed psychological status (anxiety, depression) and COVID-19's influence on job search intentions, specialty preferences (clinical, research), and willingness to work in epidemic-related fields.
Main Results:
- Nursing students and medical interns exhibited more vulnerability in employment intentions compared to clinical medicine students.
- Female students and nursing students were less inclined towards clinical work, with this association linked to depression.
- Students were less willing to specialize in infectious diseases, respiratory medicine, and intensive care, with specific degree and regional factors influencing these choices.
Conclusions:
- Psychological factors such as anxiety and depression, alongside demographic variables (gender, degree, educational status, region), significantly affected medical students' employment intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The findings underscore the need for targeted support and curriculum adjustments in medical education to address the evolving landscape of healthcare.
- Understanding these influences is crucial for shaping the future medical workforce and ensuring preparedness for future health crises.
Context:
In the process of combating the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, medical personnel were at the forefront of the fight. As the future medical workforce, medical students often experienced firsthand how their seniors and teachers had to commit to working hard in combating the epidemic. Many were directly involved in the front line of the fight and that experience could easily have affected their intention to seek employment in a medically related career.
Objective:
The study intended to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Chinese medical students' employment intentions and the factors associated with them to put forward relevant suggestions to provide a basis for medical education in the future.
Design:
The research team conducted a cross-sectional study, using an anonymous online questionnaire.
Setting:
The study took place in many provinces and cities in China and was conducted in an online questionnaire.
Participants:
Participants were 1114 college students studying clinical medicine, college students studying nursing, and students interning during standardized resident training, medical interns.
Outcome Measures:
The participants completed a self-administered questionnaire, which investigated their psychological statuses related to anxiety and depression as well as COVID-19's impact on their intentions related to job searches, regarding their willingness to engage in clinical or basic research in epidemic-related specialties and epidemic-related work.
Results:
Compared to college students studying clinical medicine, the employment intentions of nursing students and medical interns were more vulnerable to the epidemic. Females and nursing students were more reluctant to choose clinical work, and the choice was associated with depression. Nursing college students and medical interns were significantly less willing to engage in infection medicine, respiratory medicine, and intensive care medicine (all P < .001). Medical students with a bachelor's degree and postgraduate degrees were significantly less willing to engage in infection medicine and respiratory medicine (all P < .001), but medical students from regions with stable epidemics were more willing to engage in intensive care medicine. Medical students with a bachelor's degree were significantly less likely to be involved in epidemiology-related work than undergraduate students, and students from severe epidemic regions were significantly less willing to work in isolation wards or to go to Wuhan as volunteers.
Conclusions:
Participants' psychological statuses related to anxiety and depression, genders, degrees, current educational statuses, and regions affected employment intentions during the epidemic.
