Problems Faced by Resident Doctors on Their Specialty during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review

Medical education institutions provide residency programs for resident doctors of various specialties. Resident doctors are the future of a sustainable health system that will replace senior doctors who will eventually stop practicing. They are an asset for the sustainability of medical science. Doctor's professionalism is at stake in this process. The COVID-19 pandemic creates problems in health and extends to the education sector. This review aims to explore the problems faced by resident doctors in their specialty during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results found are written in a narrative type. Resident doctors explored in this study were obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, surgery, and otolaryngology. The decrease in the number of surgical procedures and efforts to shorten the surgical process affects many competencies that are not achieved. Surgical residents are greatly affected by this situation, while other residents with specialization placements in outpatient rooms such as antenatal care procedures, internal medicine examinations may still have skills through telemedicine or limited examinations. The resident doctor focused on otolaryngology is the most critical aspect because it is associated with a greater risk of exposure, especially in their surgical procedures at specific locations related to the location of the COVID-19 virus. In terms of mental health, residents experience concerns about their exposure and the amount of achievement of their competencies. The conclusion in this study is that resident doctors experience various problems related to the achievement of their competence according to the specialization they take as well as conflicts within themselves regarding mental health.