Effects of the COVID-19 epidemic on the employment intention of medical students in China：A cross-sectional online questionnaire survey (Preprint)

BACKGROUND As a serious public health event, the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) pandemic is raging around the world. Whether it has an effect on medical students' employment intention is unknown. OBJECTIVE To explore the impact of COVID-19 on the employment intention of Chinese medical students and its associated factors. METHODS An electronic questionnaire was designed to conduct an anonymous online convenient sampling survey for medical students in China. 1163 medical students from thirty-one different provinces of different academic degrees, current educational status, and regions were surveyed. The questionnaire investigated the overall impression of the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on medical students’ employment intentions, the willingness to engage in clinical or basic research after graduation, the willingness to engage in epidemic-related specialties after graduation, and the willingness to participate in epidemic-related work. RESULTS The medical students' employment intention was correlated with academic degree (ρ=0.09, P=.003), current educational status (ρ=0.10, P=.001), and geographical region (ρ=-0.07, P=.03). For choosing clinical work or scientific research, statistical significance was observed in gender (21=7.0, P=.008), degree (22=8.6, P=.01), and current educational status (22=65.0, P<.001); degree and current educational status were the key factor affecting the selection(all P<0.001). Statistically significant correlation was observed between the willingness to engage in epidemic specialties and educational status (ρ=0.10, P=0.001), degree (ρ=0.18, P<0.001) and region (ρ=-0.07, P=.03). Clinical interns (22=75.9, P<.001), college graduate students (Z=-4.4, P<.001) and postgraduate students (Z=-5.3, P<.001), and medical students from regions with severe epidemic or high risk (Z=-2.2, P=.03) were less willing to engage in epidemic related specialties. Medical students with postgraduate’s degree was less willing to participate in epidemic related work than college graduate students (Z=-3.2, P=.001), and students from severe epidemic regions were less willing to participate in epidemic related work (Z=-3.2, P=.001). Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that there were statistically significant correlation between the willingness to participate in epidemic related work and region (ρ=-0.10, P=.001). CONCLUSIONS The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant influence on the employment intention of Chinese medical students from different degrees, educational status and regions. More professional ethics education, preferential policies, and encouragement should be supplied to medical students.