The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Medical Students' Attitudes of Professionalism: A Web Based Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

In this study, it is aimed to investigate the effect of the pandemic on the professionalism attitudes of medical students. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 329 medical students. The data was collected with sociodemographic information form and Pennsylvania State University Faculty of Medicine Professionalism Attitude Scale. Data were collected via an online survey. SPSS 20 package program was used for statistical analysis. The statistical significance level was p<0.05. The mean age of the students was 21.32±2.21, and 50.5% (n=166) were female. Professionalism attitude scores were 30.36±4.26 for accountability, 25.84±3.53 for enrichment, 18.23±2.39 for honor and integrity 36.39±4.21, for altruism 13.04±1.94, for assignment 22.23±2.87 and for respect sub-dimension 8.95±1.34. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, there was a significant increase in enrichment scores (p<0.001). There was no change in the other sub-dimension scores (p>0.05). Gender, program, and presence of a doctor in the family had no significant effect on attitude scores (p>0.05). Students who stated that they preferred medical school because they had an ideal/dream and to help people had significantly higher attitude scores than students who preferred it for other reasons (p<0.001). The attitudes of the third-year medical students towards medical professionalism are positive and the attitude scores are satisfactory. Enrichment scores increased significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic period compared to the pre-pandemic period.

Keywords

• Medical Education
• Medical Student
• Medical Professionalism
• Atitude
• COVID-19

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