Psychological Effects of "Double Crisis" (COVID-19 Pandemic and Earthquakes) on Croatian Medical Students.

Romic, Ivan; Silovski, Hrvoje; Mance, Marko; Pavlek, Goran; Petrovic, Igor; Figl, Josip; Grbavac, Dario; Moric, Trpimir; Romic, Renata; Bakula, Branko; Vulic, Ante

INTRODUCTION In 2020. the COVID-19 pandemic presented an additional source of stress and anxiety not just to the general population but also to medical students who are, even under normal circumstances, constantly under pressure due to demanding student duties. In addition, they experienced a series of devastating earthquakes in and around the Zagreb region which altogether could have had compromised their psychological well-being. The aim of this review was to evaluate the psychological effects of these two natural disasters on the mental health of Croatian medical students. RESULTS According to standardized questionnaires for depression and anxiety evaluation, 75.3% of students were anxious and 65.2% were depressive during the "double crisis". No significant difference of these two outcomes was observed regarding genders, but it was found that first year students had a significantly higher anxiety score than older ones. CONCLUSION In such stressful situations, we should emphasize the importance of mental health not just of healthcare workers, but also of medical students in order to prevent serious psychological consequences and to alleviate the negative effects on students' motivation and their educational process.