Peruvian Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation residents’ perception about their medical residency during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction and objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected medical residency (MR) programs worldwide. However, few reports have focused on the MR of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R). Therefore, our objective was to describe the perceptions of PM&R residents in Peru about their MR during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study. During June 2021, we sought to address all PM&R residents in Peru, using a virtual, anonymous and voluntary survey of 13 questions elaborated in Google Forms, which addressed their perception of RM. Results: Of 142 PM&R residents in Peru, 60 (42.3%) responded to the survey. Among these, 21.7% considered that their residency training site (RTS) met little or nothing with the minimum requirements to be one, 50% that their RTS cared little or notthing for him/her since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 35% that the physicians attending their RTS cared little or nothing about academics, and 71.7% that the lack of subspecialist physicians in PM&R greatly affects their training. In addition, 71.7% and 81.7% reported having learned little or nothing about musculoskeletal ultrasound and electrodiagnostic studies, respectively. Finally, 18.3% reported regretting to have chosen the specialty. Conclusions: We found an important negative perception about MR and a low self-perception of having learned about musculoskeletal ultrasound and electrodiagnostic studies. It is important to delve into the causes and look for alternatives to improve the training of PM&R residents.