Occupational stress and quality of life of surgical specialists

The purpose is the assessment of the features of a decrease in the quality of life among surgical specialists working in a specialized COVID-19 hospital, a multidisciplinary hospital, and a clinic during the pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection COVID-19, as well as early diagnosis, prediction, and prevention of a decrease in the quality of life in this category of workers. Material and research methods. The study was carried out on the basis of the Department of Occupational Diseases and Clinical Pharmacology named after honored scientist of the Russian Federation professor V.V. Kosarev, FSBEI HE Samara State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, and the Department of Occupational Pathology, Regional Center for Occupational Pathology of the Samara City Hospital No. 5. The study was carried out within the framework of a complex theme “Systematic approach to early diagnosis, prevention, and prediction of the impact of low-intensity production factors on workers’ health” of the Department of Occupational Diseases and Clinical Pharmacology named after honored scientist of the Russian Federation professor V.V. Kosarev, FSBEI HE Samara State Medical University (state registration number AAAA-A18-118122190069-6, registration date – December 21, 2018). The study was approved by the local ethics committee of the FSBEI HE Samara State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation on November 23, 2021. Patient consent. Each study participant gave informed voluntary written consent to participate in the study and publish personal medical information in an anonymized form. The study included the following groups of subjects: group 1 consisted of surgical specialists working in a COVID hospital (in the “red zone”) (n=61); group 2 included doctors of surgical specialties working in a multidisciplinary hospital (n=58); group 3 consisted of surgical specialists working in a polyclinic (n=55); group 4 was the control group (n=190) comprising workers of engineering, technical, and economic specialties not related to medical organizations (healthy). To assess the psychophysiological state and quality of life among surgical specialists during the pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection COVID-19, the SF-36 questionnaire [J.E. Ware, 1993] designed to study all components of quality of life was used. Processing of the obtained data was carried out using the Statistica package from StatSoft (USA). Results. The professional activities of surgical specialists providing medical care in the “red zone”, multidisciplinary hospitals, and clinics are associated with the exposure of physicians to a number of risk factors in the working environment and the labor process, related to the provision of regular or occasional care to infected COVID-19 patients, which, under conditions of exposure to an increased level of occupational stress, leads to a decrease in the quality of life in these categories of physicians. The decrease in the quality of life among doctors in medical institutions of various profiles during the pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection COVID-19 is due to the fact that medical workers faced many additional difficulties during this period: sleep deprivation, stress, strain, and chronic fatigue. Chronic fatigue can affect behavior, communication, learning, and decisionmaking, which overall leads to a decrease in the quality of life of doctors. Conclusion. Thus, the obtained data indicate that when identifying risk factors for a decrease in the quality of life in medical workers working in situations of high epidemic risk, there is the need to use specialized rehabilitation measures with relaxation techniques, art therapy, as well as professional adaptation programs, physiotherapeutic techniques, such as electrosleep and reflexology, and, if possible, resort treatment in health care centers, local sanatoriums, etc. with visits to psychotherapy offices, as well as psychopharmacological medications.