Analysis of the activities of non-staff units of the Disaster Medicine Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the liquidation of the medical and sanitary consequences of emergencies and ways to improve it
Authors: Ovcharenko Alexander  P. , Lemeshkin Roman N. 
Published: October 2022

AIM: Analysis of activities and ways to improve the functioning of emergency units of the Disaster Medicine Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in eliminating the medical consequences of emergency situations.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The materials of the study were various historical documents and available literary sources characterizing the activities of the medical service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (USSR) during the elimination of the medical consequences of emergencies of various peacetime. A content analysis of an array of historical documents was carried out with subsequent meaningful interpretation to identify problematic factors in the practical activities of non-staff units of the Disaster Medicine Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The identified problematic questions (n = 10) were formulated, grouped and presented in the form of a corresponding questionnaire with a subsequent survey of military medical specialists (n = 440). The findings were compiled into a common research matrix to determine their specific contribution to the activities of healthcare professionals engaged in different teams and were factorally analyzed, allowing the resulting ranked (ordinal) expert responses to be processed for subsequent interpretation. The consistency of respondents opinions was estimated using a rank correlation coefficient the Kendell concordance coefficient (W).
RESULTS: As a result of the study, the most significant problem issue was the poor equipment of medical workers with medical products, medicines and sanitary equipment necessary for work in the emergency zone, and the least significant was the possibility of conducting a safe assessment of environmental objects for indication of the causative agent of infectious nature, chemical contamination and radiation pollution. Based on the fact that the total number of problematic questions was 10, all of them were narrowed to 3 fundamental internal (hidden) generalizing factors as a result of factor analysis: comprehensive provision of emergency units of the Disaster Medicine Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (the factors contribution to the general dispersion is 30.3%), professional activity of emergency units of the Disaster Medicine Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (12.3%), level of readiness of emergency units of the Disaster Medicine Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (10.1%).
CONCLUSION: As a result of the analysis of problematic issues of the professional activities of medical workers from non-staff units of the Disaster Medicine Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the most significant generalizing factors were identified: comprehensive provision of non-staff units of the Disaster Medicine Service (the factors contribution to the general dispersion is 30.3%), professional activity of non-staff units of the Disaster Medicine Service (12.3%). The obtained results allow making timely decisions by the medical support management bodies of various levels on the organization of the elimination of the medical consequences of emergency situations with the involvement of emergency formations in the form of detachments, brigades, and groups. The main ways to improve the functioning of emergency units of the Disaster Medicine Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the elimination of the medical consequences of emergency situations should be considered to be the optimization of their organizational and staff structure, improving the quality of equipment with medical and material and technical resources, as well as increasing the level of readiness of military medical specialists for action on purpose.