Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on rheumatology trainees: an online survey

To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the training of rheumatology trainees. We conducted an observational cross-sectional study using an online survey-based questionnaire sent to rheumatology trainees in India. Rheumatology trainees from India, including DM/DNB residents and fellows, were included. A total of 78 trainees from 24 institutes in 12 states participated in the study. An overwhelming majority of residents (84%) felt COVID-19 Pandemic Negatively impacted their residency and their Physical (65%), Mental (74%) and Social well-being (80%); 79% of trainees felt burnt out. Majority of trainees felt the pandemic negatively impacted their training with clinical teaching (91%), Clinical examination skills (74%), current (80%) and future (70%) research opportunities suffering during the pandemic. Most had significant reduction in the overall footfall (72%) of patients in rheumatology including OPD (77%) and indoor (67%) admissions along with academics (35%), procedures (66%) and exposure to musculoskeletal ultrasound (71%). Almost 60% and 40% of trainees had OPDs, and indoor admissions stopped during COVID-19 pandemic of these 20% had OPDs, and Admissions closed for more than 6 months. 85% of participants had one or the other psychological symptoms with almost half experiencing anxiety (44%), low mood (47%) or lack of sleep (41%). We found The COVID-19 Pandemic has significantly affected the physical, social and mental well-being of Rheumatology trainees. Academic and clinical training reduced, current and future Research became difficult, disruptions in OPDs and Admissions, recurrent COVID postings and reduction in patient footfall, procedures and MSK-US have been detrimental to trainees.