Table 2 Relationships among professional and wellness factors and actual spending and perceived financial strain
From: Student well-being during dedicated preparation for USMLE Step 1 and COMLEX Level 1 exams
Quartiles of spendinga | Perceived financial strain | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | pb | Not at all | A little | Somewhat | A lot | Extremely | pb | |
n | 80 | 82 | 102 | 52 | n/a | 47 | 81 | 109 | 64 | 15 | n/a |
Out of pocket payment in $: Median (IQR) | 250 (170-300) | 500 (500-600) | 1000 (800-1000) | 1500 (1200-2000) | n/a | 500 (250-800) | 560 (300-800) | 700 (440–1000) | 1000 (600-1200) | 1000 (700-1440) | n/a |
Percent responding got better | |||||||||||
Medical knowledge base | 95% | 95% | 94% | 94% | 0.622 | 100% | 94% | 93% | 97% | 87% | 0.183 |
Confidence to care for patients | 54% | 61% | 56% | 54% | 0.921 | 62% | 57% | 60% | 52% | 33% | 0.192 |
Confidence in medical school | 36% | 37% | 42% | 42% | 0.101 | 38% | 51% | 39% | 31% | 20% | 0.079 |
Confidence to get first choice of specialty | 36% | 37% | 41% | 41% | 0.692 | 51% | 44% | 39% | 25% | 20% | <.001 |
Percent responding got worse | |||||||||||
Sleeping | 40% | 48% | 43% | 56% | 0.039 | 23% | 36% | 45% | 66% | 87% | <.001 |
Eating healthy foods | 49% | 48% | 60% | 62% | 0.049 | 36% | 47% | 57% | 64% | 87% | 0.006 |
Exercising | 51% | 66% | 69% | 75% | <.001 | 47% | 59% | 71% | 72% | 73% | <.001 |
Time with friends | 94% | 94% | 91% | 100% | 0.370 | 94% | 93% | 93% | 97% | 100% | 0.436 |
Time with family | 80% | 87% | 82% | 94% | 0.011 | 81% | 85% | 79% | 95% | 93% | <.001 |
Time away from academic work | 78% | 73% | 75% | 75% | 0.823 | 72% | 72% | 74% | 80% | 87% | 0.135 |
Relationships with colleagues | 31% | 35% | 36% | 38% | 0.588 | 26% | 33% | 36% | 36% | 67% | <.001 |
Relationships with loved ones | 33% | 46% | 48% | 46% | 0.056 | 26% | 35% | 49% | 52% | 73% | 0.003 |
Balance in personal and professional life | 76% | 82% | 78% | 85% | 0.216 | 74% | 72% | 81% | 88% | 100% | <.001 |
Personal anxiety levels | 83% | 82% | 77% | 87% | 0.891 | 68% | 74% | 87% | 86% | 100% | <.001 |
Burned out from medical school | 76% | 73% | 75% | 88% | 0.090 | 72% | 69% | 79% | 81% | 100% | 0.002 |
Overall quality of life | 64% | 73% | 73% | 79% | <.001 | 66% | 52% | 77% | 88% | 87% | <.001 |
Percent responding weekly or more often | |||||||||||
Burned out from work and studying | 64% | 74% | 70% | 81% | 0.175 | 57% | 63% | 73% | 84% | 87% | <.001 |
Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless | 48% | 54% | 50% | 62% | 0.016 | 32% | 42% | 55% | 67% | 87% | <.001 |