Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of early graduate medical students who worked as COVID-19 junior physicians and those who did not, May 2020a
| Characteristic: | Junior physician (n = 39) | Non-junior physician (n = 20) | Pb | Cramer’s Vc |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, mean [SD], years | 28 [2] | 27 [2] | 0.52 | – |
| Gender, n (%) | 0.71 | – | ||
| Female | 21 (54) | 10 (50) | ||
| Male | 16 (41) | 10 (50) | ||
| Other | 2 (5) | 0 | ||
| Matched GME specialty, n (%) | 0.02 | 0.38 | ||
| Surgical | 19 (49) | 7 (35) | ||
| Medical | 14 (36) | 3 (15) | ||
| Hospital-based | 6 (15) | 10 (50) | ||
| Distance to matched residency program, n (%) | 0.58 | – | ||
| < 50 miles | 20 (51) | 7 (35) | ||
| 50 to 100 miles | 5 (13) | 2 (10) | ||
| 101 to 200 miles | 3 (8) | 2 (10) | ||
| > 200 miles | 11 (28) | 9 (45) | ||
| Home cohabitants. n (%) | 0.02 | 0.42 | ||
| None | 22 (56) | 6 (32) | ||
| Significant other (SO) | 11 (28) | 3 (15) | ||
| Parents | 6 (15) | 8 (42) | ||
| Children and SO or parents | 0 | 2 (11) | ||
| COVID-19 status prior to work period, n (%) | ||||
| Tested positive | 5 (13) | 0 | 0.16 | – |
| Family encouragement to work as JP, n (%) | 0.02 | 0.35 | ||
| Encouraged | 7 (18) | 0 | ||
| Discouraged | 10 (26) | 11 (55) | ||
| Neither encouraged nor discouraged | 22 (56) | 9 (45) | ||
| Felt Pressure to Work as JP, n (%), yes | 6 (15) | 9 (45) | 0.03 | 0.32 |
Abbreviations: COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019, GME Graduate Medical Education, IQR interquartile range, JP Junior Physician, SD standard deviation, SO significant other
aIncludes sample of early medical school graduates eligible to work as Junior Physicians at NYU Langone Hospital – Long Island and Stony Brook University Hospital during the initial peak in cases in the COVID-19 pandemic in New York State
bCategorical data were compared using the Fisher exact probability test. Continuous data (age) was compared using t tests for independent samples with an assumption of unequal variance
cCramer’s V standard interpretation for effect size: small association [0.10–0.29]; medium association [0.30–0.49]; large association [0.50–1.00]