Protection or constraint? A phenomenological study of the learning experience among doctors receiving postgraduate medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic

Hwang, I-T, Lin, W-H, Chiu, P-W, Huang, P-C, Chiu, Y-N, Üztemur, S, Hsieh, M-T, Huang, R-Y, Chen, J-S, Potenza, MN, Griffiths, MD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524 and Lin, C-Y, 2026. Protection or constraint? A phenomenological study of the learning experience among doctors receiving postgraduate medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Medical Education, 26 (1): 438. ISSN 1472-6920

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Abstract

Background
The COVID-19 pandemic considerably impacted medical education, and adopting new education approaches was needed to address public health emergencies. Doctors undergoing postgraduate medical education (PGY doctors) were likely to encounter complex challenges stemming from the pandemic. However, there is limited understanding of how their learning was affected from their perspective. Therefore, the present study explored the learning experiences of PGY doctors during the pandemic.

Methods
In the present qualitative study, 24 PGY doctors participated in five focus groups, which took place during the pandemic in Taiwan (August to November 2022). Participants were invited to share their perceptions of encountering the COVID-19 pandemic during their training and how the pandemic affected their learning experiences. The audio recordings of the focus groups were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the Framework Method.

Results
The data suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic had four key impacts on the learning context (i.e., the hospital environment in Taiwan): (a) facing the uncertainty of COVID-19 infection risk, (b) new regulations imposed by pandemic-related prevention policies, (c) lack of essential equipment and personnel in the hospital, and (d) reduced exposure to other diseases observed and treated during the pandemic. Two main learning challenges were identified. First, PGY doctors faced unexpected changes in the breadth and depth of learning during the pandemic. Second, PGY doctors experienced heightened psychological stress in their learning due to the pandemic.

Conclusions
The results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges for PGY doctors’ learning experience. The breadth and depth of their learning unavoidably changed during the pandemic, and they experienced a mismatch between expected and actual capabilities. To some extent, the protections they were given as medical students became constraints when they transitioned into the role of a PGY doctor. It is important for medical educators to consider how to create and provide alternative forms of modeling to enhance potential missed learning experiences and increase the capability and confidence of PGY doctors.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	BMC Medical Education
Creators:	Hwang, I.-T., Lin, W.-H., Chiu, P.-W., Huang, P.-C., Chiu, Y.-N., Üztemur, S., Hsieh, M.-T., Huang, R.-Y., Chen, J.-S., Potenza, M.N., Griffiths, M.D. and Lin, C.-Y.
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date:	December 2026
Volume:	26
Number:	1
ISSN:	1472-6920
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1186/s12909-026-08782-y DOI 2594287 Other
Rights:	© The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Melissa Cornwell
Date Added:	18 Mar 2026 15:31
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2026 15:31
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/55441

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