Analysis of the impact of the pandemic on surgical residency programs during the first wave in Argentina: A cross – sectional study

INTRODUCTION: COVID – 19 emerged as a global pandemic in 2020 and affected the teaching methods at all levels. Surgical education has also been significantly affected by this pandemic, but the effect remains unknown. We developed a survey in order to obtain more information on how this pandemic affected the training and education of surgical residency programs. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study. We surveyed 195 residents of various surgical programs, from August 20th to September 30th, 2020, in Córdoba, Argentina. The effect of the COVID – 19 pandemic was analyzed on surgical training, on the academic program, and professional burnout. RESULTS: The volume of surgical cases performed during the pandemic decreased dramatically, affecting mainly residents of lower years. Comparing the number of cases (>7) that residents carried out per week (Pre pandemic vs pandemic), we found that PGY – 1: 47% vs 9%; p = 0.01 and PGY – 2: 46% vs 8%; p = 0.03. 83.2% reported that the impact of the pandemic affected their surgical training negatively and 45% were not adequately trained to carry out their surgical activity in the residency program. On the other hand, 71.3% affirmed that this health emergency allowed them to dedicate more time to the development of their academic training. CONCLUSION: This is the first cross – sectional survey study that shows the impact of the pandemic on surgical residences during the first wave in Argentina. Surgical training performed by residents had a negative impact.