ArticleBMJ open2021
Professional roles and relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study among US clinicians.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Professional identity and moral agency in palliative care: A review.Nursing ethics · 2026Review
- Complicity in Moral Injury: A Study of Moral Phenomena in Healthcare Work Settings.Journal of healthcare leadership · 2026Article
- A qualitative exploration of pharmacists' roles in centralised vaccination centres during the COVID-19 pandemic.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2025Article
- Reflections of rural primary care physicians on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Multidimensional stressors and protective factors shaping physicians' work environments and work-related well-being in two large US cities during COVID-19.American journal of industrial medicine · 2023Article
- Experiences of US Clinicians Contending With Health Care Resource Scarcity During the COVID-19 Pandemic, December 2020 to December 2021.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Education Research: Impact of Burnout on Neurology Residents and Research Fellows in Europe.Neurology. Education · 2022Article
- Changes in Burnout and Satisfaction With Work-Life Integration in Physicians During the First 2 Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic.Mayo Clinic proceedings · 2022Article
- The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Intensivists' Well-Being: A Qualitative Study.Chest · 2022Article
- Medical Practice in a Changing World: Reflections From the 19th Century.JACC. Case reports · 2022Article
- Perspectives of Triage Team Members Participating in Statewide Triage Simulations for Scarce Resource Allocation During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Washington State.JAMA network open · 2022Article
- Health care workers' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review.Human resources for health · 2022Article
- Protecting Practitioners in Stressed Systems: Translational Bioethics and the COVID-19 Pandemic.Perspectives in biology and medicine · 2022Article
- Experiences of redeployed healthcare workers in the fight against COVID-19 in China: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2022Article
- Simulation versus reality: what can interprofessional simulation teach us about team dynamics in the trauma bay?Global surgical education : journal of the Association for Surgical Education · 2022Article
- "Covid Just Amplified the Cracks of the System": Working as a Frontline Health Worker during the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- How to lead health care workers during unprecedented crises: A qualitative study of the COVID-19 pandemic in Connecticut, USA.PloS one · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThe COVID-19 pandemic has transformed healthcare delivery in the USA, but there has been little empirical work describing the impact of these changes on clinicians. We conducted a study to address the following question: how has the pandemic impacted US clinicians' professional roles and relationships?
designInductive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews.
settingClinical settings across the USA in April and May of 2020.
participantsClinicians with leadership and/or clinical roles during the COVID-19 pandemic. MEASURES: Emergent themes related to professional roles and relationships.
resultsSixty-one clinicians participated in semi-structured interviews. Study participants were practising in 15 states across the USA, and the majority were White physicians from large academic centres. Three overlapping and inter-related themes emerged from qualitative analysis of interview transcripts: (1) disruption: boundaries between work and home life became blurred and professional identity and usual clinical roles were upended; (2) constructive adaptation: some clinicians were able to find new meaning in their work and described a spirit of collaboration, shared goals, open communication and mutual respect among colleagues; and (3) discord and estrangement: other clinicians felt alienated from their clinical roles and experienced demoralising work environments marked by division, value conflicts and mistrust.
conclusionsClinicians encountered marked disruption of their professional roles, identities and relationships during the pandemic to which they and their colleagues responded in a range of different ways. Some described a spirit of collaboration and camaraderie, while others felt alienated by their new roles and experienced work environments marked by division, value conflicts and mistrust. Our findings highlight the importance of effective teamwork and efforts to support clinician well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Registered trials
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