Professional burnout and quality of life of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, average medical workers turned out to be the most vulnerable category among medical workers in terms of professional stress, professional burnout, and a decrease in quality of life.

Goal. To establish the features of professional burnout and the quality of life of MS in specialized COVID hospitals, multidisciplinary hospitals (MP hospitals), as well as polyclinics (PCs) during the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection COVID-19.

Material and methods. The study was performed at the Department of Occupational Diseases and Clinical Pharmacology named after the Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Professor V.V. Kosarev of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and the Regional Center of Occupational Pathology of the Samara City Hospital No. 5. The following MS groups were examined: the first group consisted of nurses working in a COVID hospital (n=29); the second group consisted of nurses working in a multidisciplinary hospital (n=31); the third group consisted of nurses working in polyclinics (n=29); The fourth, control group (GC), included employees of engineering, technical and economic specialties that are not related in their field of activity to work in medical organizations (n=190). The assessment of professional burnout syndrome was carried out using the Maslach Burnout professional burnout assessment questionnaire, the V.V. Boyko questionnaire, the quality of life was determined using the SF-36 questionnaire.

Results. It has been established that the work of MS during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with the impact on medical workers of a number of specific risk factors related to the provision of medical care to infected patients, as well as with significant changes in work regarding aspects related to organization, safety, which contribute to an increase in the level of occupational stress, professional burnout, and a decrease in the quality of life.

Conclusion. The work of MS in a COVID hospital, when compared with MS in hospitals, nurses working in polyclinics, is associated with an increase in the level of professional stress, the level of professional burnout. It is necessary to continue research on the emotional state of MS in order to timely carry out preventive treatment to preserve the health of this category of medical workers.

Limitations of the study. The study has regional (Samara region) and professional (in terms of detailing the working conditions in the studied comparison groups) limitations.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study was carried out within the framework of the complex topic of the Department of Occupational Diseases and Clinical Pharmacology named after Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation Professor V.V. Kosarev of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of the Russian Ministry of Health of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation «A systematic approach to early diagnosis, prevention and prediction of the impact of low-intensity industrial factors on the health of workers» (state registration number AAAA18-118122190069-6, date registration on December 21, 2018). The study was approved by the local Ethics Committee of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of the Russian Ministry of Health on 11/23/2021.

Patient consent. Each participant of the study gave informed voluntary written consent to participate in the study and publish personal medical information in an impersonal form in the journal «Meditsinskaya sestra (The Nurse)».