ArticleBMJ open2021
What challenges did junior doctors face while working during the COVID-19 pandemic? A qualitative study.
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 22 papers.
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22 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- How Swedish healthcare workers managed the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic: sensemaking across organisational, interpersonal and individual levels.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- The Effects of Occupational Stress and Stress Management on the Performance of Frontline Healthcare Service Workers.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Protection or constraint? A phenomenological study of the learning experience among doctors receiving postgraduate medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Nurses' and Junior Doctors' Workloads.Journal of advanced nursing · 2025Article
- Secondary stressors and their psychosocial impacts on healthcare staff: lessons from a qualitative systematic review from the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.BJPsych open · 2025Review
- Assessing the evolution of infectious disease preparedness among a province with poor economy in China in the wake of COVID-19.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
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- The ebbs and flows of empathy: a qualitative study of surgical trainees in the UK.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Working conditions, psychological distress and suicidal ideation: cross-sectional survey study of UK junior doctors.BJPsych open · 2023Article
- COVID-19 and healthcare worker mental well-being: Comparative case studies on interventions in six countries.Health policy (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2023Review
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- Relationship between COVID-19 care and burnout among postgraduate clinical residents in Japan: a nationwide cross-sectional study.BMJ open · 2023Observational
- Treatment System Adaptations during War: Lessons from Ukrainian Addiction Treatment Providers.Substance use & misuse · 2023Article
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- A qualitative analysis of psychosocial stressors and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on frontline healthcare personnel in the United States.SSM. Qualitative research in health · 2022Article
- Perceived barriers to the process of COVID-19 control among frontline healthcare workers in South Korea: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Recommendations for improving the working conditions and cultures of distressed junior doctors, based on a qualitative study and stakeholder perspectives.BMC health services research · 2022Article
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- Work and Nonwork Contributory Factors to Health Care Workers' Mental Health.American journal of public health · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 9 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThis paper reports findings exploring junior doctors' experiences of working during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.
designQualitative study using in-depth interviews with 15 junior doctors. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, anonymised and imported into NVivo V.12 to facilitate data management. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
settingNational Health Service (NHS) England.
participantsA purposive sample of 12 female and 3 male junior doctors who indicated severe depression and/or anxiety on the DASS-21 questionnaire or high suicidality on Paykel's measure were recruited. These doctors self-identified as having lived experience of distress due to their working conditions.
resultsWe report three major themes. First, the challenges of working during the COVID-19 pandemic, which were both personal and organisational. Personal challenges were characterised by helplessness and included the trauma of seeing many patients dying, fears about safety and being powerless to switch off. Work-related challenges revolved around change and uncertainty and included increasing workloads, decreasing staff numbers and negative impacts on relationships with colleagues and patients. The second theme was strategies for coping with the impact of COVID-19 on work, which were also both personal and organisational. Personal coping strategies, which appeared limited in their usefulness, were problem and emotion focused. Several participants appeared to have moved from coping towards learnt helplessness. Some organisations reacted to COVID-19 collaboratively and flexibly. Third, participants reported a positive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working practices, which included simplified new ways of working-such as consistent teams and longer rotations-as well as increased camaraderie and support.
conclusionsThe trauma that junior doctors experienced while working during COVID-19 led to powerlessness and a reduction in the benefit of individual coping strategies. This may have resulted in feelings of resignation. We recommend that, postpandemic, junior doctors are assigned to consistent teams and offered ongoing support.
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