Career choice regret during COVID-19 among healthcare students and professionals in mainland China: a cross-sectional study

Background The COVID-19 epidemic affected the career choice of healthcare professionals and students. Career choice regret of healthcare professionals and students during COVID-19 outbreak and its affected factors are largely unexplored. Methods Convenience sample of nurses, doctors, and medical students were recruited from hospitals and universities nationwide. The data collected including demographic information, professional value before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and career choice regret level by an online questionnaire. Multinominal logistic regression was employed to explore the factors associated with career choice regret. Results In total, 9322 participants of convenience sampling were enrolled in, including 5786 nurses, 1664 doctors, and 1872 medical students. 6.7% participants had career choice regret. Multinominal logistic regression analysis showed, compared to participants with no regret, that as levels of psychological resilience increased, the odds of experiencing career choice regret decreased (OR = 0.95, 95% CI 0.94–0.96), while participants with lower professional value evaluation after the COVID-19 outbreak had higher probability to experience career choice regret (OR = 1.55,95% CI 1.50–1.61). Medical students were more likely to regret than nurses (OR = 1.65,95% CI 1.20–2.28), participants whose career/major choice was not their personal ideal had higher risk of experience career choice regret (OR = 1.59,95% CI 1.29–1.96), while participants who were very afraid of the coronavirus had higher risk to experience career choice regret then participants with no fear at all (OR = 2.00,95% CI 1.24–3.21). As for the medical students, results indicated that medical students major in nursing and undergraduates had higher risk to experience career choice regret compared to medical students major in clinical medicine and postgraduate (Master or PhD), with an odds ratios of 2.65(95% CI 1.56–4.49) and 6.85 (95% CI 2.48–18.91)respectively. Conclusions A minority of healthcare professionals and medical students regretted their career choices during the COVID-19 outbreak. Enhance personal psychological resilience and professional value would helpful to reduce career choice regret among healthcare professionals and students during pandemic.

Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms, Job Burnout And Career Choice Regret of Postgraduates In Stomatology

Background: In China, the shortage of doctors leads to an increase in workload. Especially after the new crown epidemic（COVID-19）, excessive workload may lead to both physical and mental fatigue of doctors. Students' choices and opinions about the doctoral （health care）industry are particularly important. However, we don't know much about the work and living conditions of postgraduates in Stomatology. The purpose of this research is to investigate the depressive symptoms, job burnout and job satisfaction of individual dental graduate students and their personal professional characteristics after the outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019. Methods: The study directed to the correlations between depressive symptoms, burnout and career choice regret and their factors. The questionnaire covers demographic information, Maslach Burnout Inventory, and added programs to evaluate career choice regret. Results: There are 580 dental graduate students who will return to complete the questionnaire in 2021. After excluding partial questionnaires, the data of 558 participants were analyzed. In total, 44.1% of the participants had symptoms of depression. 41.0% of the participants experienced symptoms of burnout and 41.6% of the participants had regrets about their career choices. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that the average daily sleep time was associated to depressive symptoms (P<0.05). At the same time, job burnout (OR = 5.38, 95% CI 3.67–7.88) and career choice regret (OR = 2.07, 95% CI 1.41–3.05) were risk factors for depressive symptoms. There was a relationship between job burnout, average study time per week and average daily sleep time(all P<0.05). Depressive symptoms were the biggest risk factor for burnout (OR = 5.28, 95% CI3.62-7.69). There was a relationship between career choice regret, postgraduate entrance examination score and average daily sleep time(all P<0.05). Job burnout (OR = 1.82, 95% CI1.24-2.66) and depressive symptoms (OR = 2.15, 95% CI1.48-3.14) were both risk factors for career choice regret. Conclusions: Depressive symptoms, job burnout, and career choice regrets are common in postgraduates majoring in Stomatology . An in-depth understanding of relevant factors is essential to determine the reduction and prevention of burnout and career choice regrets in this group.

Personal and professional factors influencing career choice regret during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: Many healthcare workers (HCWs) have been subjected to additional workplace and personal stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some stressors may be more likely to contribute to career choice regret and the decision to leave the healthcare profession. Loss of critical numbers of personnel could leave healthcare systems without a ready, capable workforce. The purpose of this research was to determine which personal and professional characteristics increased frequency of career choice regret.Methods: An international, cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine if specific personal and professional characteristics were associated with career choice regret and intent to leave. One short-answer item was included in the 20-item survey. The sample consisted of 874 English-speaking HCWs from 18 countries with representation of various practice settings, disciplines, ages, and years in healthcare.Results: Significant correlations between pre- and intra-pandemic frequency of thoughts about leaving the healthcare profession were observed. Ordinal regression analyses were conducted, finding significant relationships between career regret thoughts and female gender, age, and death of a family member or friend. Death of a coworker was not associated with increased thoughts of leaving the healthcare profession. Themes from the short-answer item included fatigue, anger, doubt, fulfillment, and the pandemic as a journey.Conclusions: Healthcare systems may be vulnerable to a loss of HCWs due to the effects of working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospital and health system executives need to understand the current threats to the stability of the workforce and develop strategies to prevent attrition of skilled, capable professionals.

Career Choice Regret During COVID-19 Among Healthcare Students and Professionals in Mainland China: A Cross-Sectional Study

BackgroundThe COVID-19 epidemic affected the career choice of healthcare professionals and students. To explore career choice regret of healthcare professionals and students during COVID-19 outbreak and its affected factors.MethodsConvenience sample of nurses, doctors, and medical students were recruited from hospitals and universities nationwide. The data collected including demographic information, professional value before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and career choice regret level by an online questionnaire. Multinominal logistic regression was employed to explore the factors associated with career choice regret.ResultsIn total, 9322 participants of convenience sampling were enrolled in, including 5786 nurses, 1664 doctors, and 1872 medical students. 6.7% participants had career choice regret. Multinominal logistic regression analysis showed, compared to participants with no regret, that as levels of resilience increased, the odds of experiencing career choice regret decreased (OR=0.951,P＜0.001), while participants with lower professional value evaluation after the COVID-19 outbreak had higher probability to experience career choice regret(OR=1.552,P＜0.001). Medical students were more likely to regret than nurses (OR=1.654,P=0.002), participants whose career/major choice was according to their personal ideal had higher risk of experience career choice regret (OR=1.592,P＜0.001), while participants who were very afraid of the coronavirus had higher risk to experience career choice regret then participants with no fear at all(OR=1.997,P=0.004).As for the medical students, results indicated that medical students major in nursing and undergraduates had higher risk to experience career choice regret compared to medical students major in clinical medicine and postgraduate (Master or PhD), with an odds ratios of 2.645 and 6.851 respectively.ConclusionsA minority of healthcare professionals and medical students regretted their career choices during the COVID-19 outbreak. Enhance personal psychological resilience and professional value would helpful to reduce career choice regret among healthcare professionals and students during pandemic.