After the Pandemic: The Future of Italian Medicine. The Psychological Impact of COVID-19 on Medical and Other Healthcare-Related Degrees Students.

The study aimed to explore the psychological symptoms and the readiness to fight the pandemic of the new generation of healthcare professionals: medical and other healthcare degree students. We enrolled 509 medical and healthcare-related degree students during the second outbreak of COVID-19 in Italy. We have examined their psychological symptoms using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and their readiness to fight the pandemic together with their academic career status, their relationship with the university, and their emotional reactions to the pandemic with Visual Analog Scales. We retrieved a GHQ mean of 21.65 (SD = 40.63) and readiness to fight the pandemic mean of 53.58 (SD = 31.49). Perceived control affects variables: a negative effect on psychological symptoms and a positive effect on the willingness to fight the pandemic. The other variables with an impact were stress, loneliness, and anger that had a significant and positive impact on psychological symptoms. Age and concern for patients had a significant positive impact on readiness to fight for the pandemic, while years of attendance had a significant but negative impact. Universities and Institutions should consider the impact of the pandemic on students, in particular, for its effect on their mental health.