Educational impact of COVID-19 on foundation doctors and the decision to take a break from structured approved training programmes in the United Kingdom

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the Foundation Programme for doctors in the United Kingdom. Foundation doctors were working under increased pressure and significant changes were made to their training.

The aim of this study is to explore the educational impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on foundation doctors and to understand how this resulted in doctors choosing to take time away from structured training programmes within the United Kingdom to make up for lost educational opportunities.

In this phenomenological research, semi-structured interviews were carried out with post-foundation doctors who had completed their training during the pandemic. The data collected from these interviews were coded to carry out a thematic analysis.

All 12 participants reported that their formalised teaching had been cancelled, and due to the pandemic, many doctors felt that service provision was prioritised over their postgraduate education. Some doctors had positive experiences of informal teaching; however, many felt they missed out on educational opportunities. Doctors acknowledged that this was a contributing factor when deciding to take time out of training. This also resulted in doctors seeking educational opportunities outside of training.

The pandemic created many educational challenges for foundation doctors; this has contributed to doctors deciding to take time away from training. In some cases, due to a focus on service provision and their 'lost education', doctors are using time away from training to address their own specific educational needs. The impact of this 'lost education' requires further research and needs to be considered when doctors do apply to speciality training.