• Emma Jane Norton, Ioannis Georgiou, Alex Fung, Armin Nazari, Soham Bandyopadhyay, and Kate E A Saunders.
• West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, Bury St Edmunds, UK.
• J Public Health (Oxf). 2021 Apr 12; 43 (1): 67-75.

BackgroundThe adequacy of personal protective equipment (PPE) and infection prevention and control (IPC) training in UK medical students and interim Foundation Year 1 (FiY1) doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic is unknown, as is its impact on COVID-19-related anxiety.MethodsCross-sectional, multi-centre study analysing self-reported adequacy of PPE and IPC training and correlation to a modified pandemic anxiety scale. Participants were current medical students and FiY1 doctors in the UK. Data were collected by an online survey.ResultsParticipants reported that they received insufficient PPE information (43%) and IPC training (56%). Significantly, fewer participants identifying as women or BAME/mixed ethnicity reported receiving sufficient PPE information, compared with those identifying as men and White British/White Other, respectively. COVID-19-related anxiety was significantly higher in those without sufficient reported PPE or IPC training, in women compared with men, and in FiY1 doctors compared with medical students.ConclusionsWith medical students currently volunteering in and imminently returning to hospitals in an educational capacity, levels of self-reported PPE and IPC training are sub-optimal. Better training is paramount to avoid harm to patients and healthcare professionals and to reduce COVID-19-related anxiety among medical students and FiY1 doctors.© Crown copyright 2020.

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