Medical students perceptions and motivations in time of COVID-19 pandemic

Background: There has been a rapid increase in the number of cases of COVID19 in Latin America, Africa and Asia, in many countries that have an insufficient number of physicians and other health care personnel, and the need for the inclusion of medical students as part of the health teams is a very important issue. It has been recommended that medical students work as volunteers, have appropriate training, do not undertake any activity beyond their level of competence, have continuous supervision and adequate personal protective equipment. However, motivation of medical students must be evaluated in order to make volunteering a more evidence-based initiative. The aim of our study was to evaluate motivation of medical students to be part of the health team to help in the COVID19 pandemic. Methods and Findings: We developed a questionnaire specifically to evaluate medical students perceptions about participating in care of patients with suspected infection due to coronavirus during the COVID19 pandemic. The questionnaire had two parts: a) individual characteristics, year and geographic location of medical school; b) twenty eight statements responded on a 5 point Likert scale (totally agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree and totally disagree). To develop the questionnaire, we performed consensus meetings of a group of faculty and medical students. The questionnaire was sent to student organizations of 257 medical schools in Brazil and answered by 10,433 students. We used multinomial logistic regression models to analyse the data. Statements with greater odds ratios for participation of medical students in COVID19 pandemic were related to sense of purpose or duty (It is the duty of the medical student to put himself at the service of the population in the pandemic), altruism (I am willing to take risks by participating in practical in the context of pandemic), perception of good performance and professional identity (I will be a better health professional for having experienced the pandemic). Males had higher odds ratios than females (1.36 [95% CI: 1.24 to 1.49] to 1.68 [95% CI: 1.47 to 1.91]). Conclusions: Medical students are motivated by sense of purpose or duty, altruism, perception of good performance and values of professionalism more than their interest in learning. These results have implications in the developing of programs of volunteering and in the design of health force policies in the present pandemic and in future health emergencies.