Professional burnout, anxiety and quality of life in GPs in high epidemic risk situations
Authors:   FSBEI HE Samara State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Samara, Babanov S.A. , Ostryakova N.A. ,   FSBEI HE Samara State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Samara, Strizhakov L.A. ,   FSBSI Izmerov Research Institute of Occupational Health, Moscow, FSBEI HE Lomonosov Moscow State University, FSAEI HE I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (Sechenov University), Melentiev A.V. ,   FBSI F. F. Erisman Federal Scientific Centre of Hygiene of Rospotrebnadzor, Mytishchi,Moscow Region, Russia, Lysova M.V. ,   SBHI SR Samara City Hospital No. 5,  Samara, Russia
Published: January 2025

Introduction. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical workers turned out to be
the most vulnerable category of the population in terms of the risk of developing psycho-emotional
disorders.
Objective. To establish the characteristics of the psycho-emotional state among general practitioners
of COVID hospitals, multidisciplinary hospitals, and polyclinics during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Material and methods. The study included: group 1 — general practitioners of COVID hospitals
(n=111); group 2 — internists of multidisciplinary hospitals (n=106); group 3 — GPs working
in polyclinics (n=102); group 4 — control group (healthy) (n=190). The assessment of
professional burnout was carried out by means of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, developed by
American psychologists C. Maslach and S. E. Jackson, in adaptation by N. E. Vodopyanova and
E. S. Starchenkova, as well as using V. V. Boyko’s questionnaire. The study utilized an integrative
anxiety test to investigate the formation of psycho-emotional disorders in internists during the
pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection. The quality of life was determined by means of the SF-
36 questionnaire. The processing of the obtained data was carried out using the Statistica package
from StatSoft (USA).
Results. It has been established that the work of general practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic
was associated with the impact of occupational stress related to caring for infected patients on
medical workers, as well as with significant changes in work regarding aspects of organization and
safety, which contributed to an increase in the levels of occupational stress, professional burnout,
and anxiety, and a decrease in the quality of life.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.
Conclusions. The work of general practitioners of specialized COVID hospitals, internists of
multidisciplinary hospitals, and GPs of polyclinics is associated with an increase in the levels of
occupational stress, professional burnout, and anxiety, and a decrease in the quality of life. Notably,
psychological changes are most pronounced in employees of specialized COVID hospitals. It is
necessary to continue research on the emotional state of medical personnel in order to timely carry
out preventive treatment to preserve the health of medical workers.