Background Undergraduate medical (UM) students faced the difficulties inherent in medical careers due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Thus, imperative containment measures might affect UM students’ career intentions. Information on the factors that may be associated with these students’ career change intentions is limited. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey in August 2020 to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on career intention and the associated factors in UM students. Univariate analyses and logistic regression analysis were performed to identify said factors. Results A total of 2040 medical students from the Hubei University of Medicine were surveyed. Univariate analyses showed that grade, attitude towards healthcare, and the degree of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the students’ lives were associated with changes in career choice ( P <0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that Grade 2, Grade 5, attitude towards a medical career, and having relatives with a medical background were associated with changes in career choice. The degree of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact was a common and significant factor associated with career preference, career perspective, and ideal workplace. Conclusions Changes in career intentions were particularly influenced by grade, attitude towards being a health worker, and the degree of COVID-19’s impact on the participants’ lives. Treating large-scale public health emergencies rationally, setting up correct views of occupation choice, and building reasonable career planning may reduce the loss of medical talent. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-022-03201-4.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, medical education, cross-sectional study, undergraduate students, Career intention, 【초록키워드】 coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic, Medicine, outbreak, healthcare, Factors, Intention, public health emergency, university, change, Analysis, health worker, cross-sectional survey, GRADE, regression analysis, Factor, Logistic regression analysis, supplementary material, Perspective, Grade 5, Affect, Containment measure, treating, Result, identify, performed, conducted, changes in, imperative, reduce, inherent, 【제목키워드】 cross-sectional, COVID-19 pandemic, Impact, Intention, conducted,