TY - JOUR
T1 - Academic, clinical and personal experiences of undergraduate healthcare students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A prospective cohort study
AU - McFadden, Sonyia
AU - Guille, Sharon
AU - Daly-Lynn, Jean
AU - O’Neill, Brenda
AU - Marley, Joanne
AU - Hanratty, Catherine
AU - Shepherd, Paul
AU - Ramsey, Lucia
AU - Breen, Cathal
AU - Duffy, Orla
AU - Jones, Andrea
AU - Kerr, Daniel
AU - Hughes, Ciara
A2 - Sattar, Kamran
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2022 McFadden et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2022/7/27
Y1 - 2022/7/27
N2 - Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 has impacted upon the role and safety of healthcare workers, with the potential to have a lasting effect on their wellbeing. Limited research has been conducted during previous pandemics exploring how student healthcare workers are impacted as they study and train for their professional careers. Objective: The aim of the current study was to examine the specific impact of COVID-19 on the academic, clinical and personal experiences of healthcare students. Method: Undergraduate students across three year groups within the School of Health Sciences at Ulster University completed online Qualtrics surveys at three timepoints during one academic year (2020/2021). Quantitative survey data was downloaded from Qualtrics into SPSS Version 25 for descriptive analysis of each cross-sectional sample. Qualitative survey data was downloaded into text format, which was thematically analysed using content analysis. Results: 412 students completed the survey at Time 1 (October 2020), n = 309 at Time 2 (December 2020) and n = 259 at Time 3 (April 2021). Academically, the pandemic had mostly a negative impact on the learning environment, the development of practical skills, the assessment process and opportunities for peer learning and support. Students reported increased stress and challenges managing their workload and maintaining a sense of motivation and routine. Clinically, they felt unprepared by the university for placement where the pandemic had an increasingly negative impact over time on learning and skill development. In terms of personal experiences, despite the majority of students taking steps to keep physically and mentally well, negative impacts on friendships, mental wellbeing and concerns for family were reported. The pandemic had not impacted upon career choice for most students. Conclusion: Consideration must be given to the development of practical skills so students feel prepared for their professional careers given the practical nature of their roles. Programme coordinators should adopt a holistic approach to student wellbeing.
AB - Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 has impacted upon the role and safety of healthcare workers, with the potential to have a lasting effect on their wellbeing. Limited research has been conducted during previous pandemics exploring how student healthcare workers are impacted as they study and train for their professional careers. Objective: The aim of the current study was to examine the specific impact of COVID-19 on the academic, clinical and personal experiences of healthcare students. Method: Undergraduate students across three year groups within the School of Health Sciences at Ulster University completed online Qualtrics surveys at three timepoints during one academic year (2020/2021). Quantitative survey data was downloaded from Qualtrics into SPSS Version 25 for descriptive analysis of each cross-sectional sample. Qualitative survey data was downloaded into text format, which was thematically analysed using content analysis. Results: 412 students completed the survey at Time 1 (October 2020), n = 309 at Time 2 (December 2020) and n = 259 at Time 3 (April 2021). Academically, the pandemic had mostly a negative impact on the learning environment, the development of practical skills, the assessment process and opportunities for peer learning and support. Students reported increased stress and challenges managing their workload and maintaining a sense of motivation and routine. Clinically, they felt unprepared by the university for placement where the pandemic had an increasingly negative impact over time on learning and skill development. In terms of personal experiences, despite the majority of students taking steps to keep physically and mentally well, negative impacts on friendships, mental wellbeing and concerns for family were reported. The pandemic had not impacted upon career choice for most students. Conclusion: Consideration must be given to the development of practical skills so students feel prepared for their professional careers given the practical nature of their roles. Programme coordinators should adopt a holistic approach to student wellbeing.
KW - Research Article
KW - Biology and life sciences
KW - Social sciences
KW - Medicine and health sciences
KW - People and places
KW - Research and analysis methods
KW - Pandemics
KW - Prospective Studies
KW - Cross-Sectional Studies
KW - Humans
KW - Students
KW - Delivery of Health Care
KW - COVID-19 - epidemiology
KW - COVID-19
UR - https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/1e9285a2-c06c-49d9-b576-088a777f4f87
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85135017067&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0271873
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0271873
M3 - Article
C2 - 35895730
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 17
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 7
M1 - e0271873
ER -