University of Bern, Bern University Hospital, Department of Visceral Surgery and Medicine, Bern, Switzerland.
University of Ottawa, Department of Innovation in Medical Education, Ottawa, Canada.
GMS J Med Educ. 2023 Feb 15;40(1):Doc4. doi: 10.3205/zma001586. eCollection 2023.
Students frequently rely on part-time jobs to earn a living wage. We sought to evaluate the sociodemographic status of Swiss medical students and their perception regarding equal career opportunities in view of impaired part-time job opportunities under the COVID-19 pandemic.
We conducted an anonymous online survey among Swiss medical students from Bern and Geneva over a period of 4 months between December 2020 and April 2021. We evaluated sociodemographic data, current living situation, part-time job occupation as well as other sources of income to fund living expenses, and, by means of a five-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree), whether COVID-19 was perceived as impeding equal career opportunities.
Of 968 participants, corresponding to around 13.8% of all medical students in Switzerland, 81.3% had part-time jobs. Amongst the employed, 54.8% worked to afford living expenses and 28.9% reported a negative financial impact due to reduced part-time jobs under the pandemic. The loss of part-time jobs was perceived to make medical studies a privilege for students with higher socioeconomic status (4.11±1.0), whose opportunity to study is independent of a regular income. A governmental backup plan was considered crucial to support affected students (4.22±0.91).
COVID-19 and its sequelae are perceived as a threat for Swiss medical students and lead to a disadvantage for those with lower socioeconomic status. Nationwide measures should be established to foster equal career opportunities.
学生经常依靠兼职工作来赚取生活费。我们旨在评估瑞士医学生的社会人口统计学地位，以及在 COVID-19 大流行期间兼职机会受损的情况下，他们对平等职业机会的看法。
我们在 2020 年 12 月至 2021 年 4 月期间，对来自伯尔尼和日内瓦的瑞士医学生进行了为期 4 个月的匿名在线调查。我们评估了社会人口统计学数据、当前生活状况、兼职工作以及其他收入来源以支付生活费用，以及通过五分制李克特量表（1=强烈不同意，5=强烈同意），评估 COVID-19 是否被认为阻碍了平等的职业机会。
在 968 名参与者中，约占瑞士所有医学生的 13.8%，81.3%的人有兼职工作。在就业者中，54.8%的人工作以支付生活费用，28.9%的人报告由于大流行期间兼职工作减少而造成财务负面影响。兼职工作的流失被认为使医学研究成为社会经济地位较高的学生的特权（4.11±1.0），他们的学习机会独立于定期收入。政府的备用计划被认为是支持受影响学生的关键（4.22±0.91）。
COVID-19 及其后遗症被认为对瑞士医学生构成威胁，并导致社会经济地位较低的学生处于不利地位。应制定全国性措施，以促进平等的职业机会。
