Resilience in Transition: Stress, Skill-Building, and Career Motivation in Swiss Medical Interns

BackgroundHealthcare systems worldwide, including in Switzerland, face critical challenges from staff shortages, threatening their sustainability and quality of care. Medical interns transitioning into professional roles often experience heightened stress and burnout, which are key contributors to early career attrition. It is crucial to identify specific factors that foster resilience and to understand interns’ perspectives, attitudes, and coping strategies in this period. MethodsWe followed 105 Swiss medical students from the start of their first internships. Participants completed baseline questionnaires and follow-ups at three, six, and 12 months. Momentary stress and affect was assessed in three two-week ecological momentary assessment bursts. We examined skills improvement, burnout, changes in well-being, and career motivation, using multilevel and (regularised) regression models to identify baseline and intra-internship predictors. Topic modelling was used to explore student recommendations on reducing stress and improving resilience. ResultsAnalyses revealed three overarching predictive factors: work dissatisfaction, social and team factors, and degree of practical involvement. In turn, lower burnout and higher skills improvement were related to post-internship motivation to continue in medicine. Students reported higher negative affect while on duty, which was mediated in exploratory analyses by feeling less comfortable in present company. Most suggested improvements to organisational aspects and a healthy work-life balance to deal with internship stress.ConclusionsUsing a mixed-method approach and collecting data on different time scales, our study provides a unique account of medical students’ internship experiences. Our findings inform medical education and contribute to improving the well-being of future doctors, ultimately benefitting patients.