Impact of the COVID Pandemic on Anesthesiology Assistants’ Educational Satisfaction, Behavior and Quality of Life

The corona pandemic has created many unpredictable challenges for the medical staff and students. In almost all countries, changes have been made in the medical education programs at all levels. The anesthesiology assistants are among the most affected groups due to the role of this specialty in the management of COVID patients. 

We prepared a questionnaire including demographic information, as well as 20 questions associated with work and educational issues. The questionnaire was sent to all anesthesia assistants via SMS and the answers were collected within 5 days. The 20 main questions were designed in the form of multiple-choice questions with 5 standard options.

Responses were immediately reported after categorization. Chi-square test was used to compare the answers among the subgroups, such as male and female, single and married and at different levels. 66 anesthesia assistants out of total amount of 71 at four different levels (92.9%) answered the questions. The results showed that the majority of assistants have experienced a higher level of stress during corona pandemic and the negative effects of the pandemic on their medical education were obvious. 

According to the responses received in this study, the amount of stress in male assistants was less than females and also married assistants experienced less stress in comparison to singles.