Stress, distress and anxiety in surgical specialists
Authors:   FSBEI HE Samara State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Samara, Russia, Babanov S. A. , Ostryakova N. A. ,   SBHI Sanatorium «Sochinsky» of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Sochi, Russia, Chuykova O. A. ,   SBHI SR Samara City Hospital No. 5, Samara, Russia, Lysova M. V. ,   FSBEI HE Samara State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Samara, Russia, Babanov A. S. ,   Private Institution Educational Organization of Higher Education «Medical University Reaviz», Samara, Russia
Published: January 2025

The purpose of the study is the assessment of the level of anxiety among surgeons providing
medical care in specialized COVID-19 hospitals, multidisciplinary hospitals, and polyclinics
during the pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection COVID-19, as well as early diagnosis, prediction, and prevention of the development of anxiety associated with the level of occupational
burnout in this category of medical specialists.
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» (state registration
number AAAA-A18‑118122190069‑6, registration date — December 21, 2018) 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.
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 participant of the study 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 surgeons 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 9 consisted of nurses working in the polyclinic (n=29); group 4 was the
control group (n=190) comprising workers of engineering, technical, and economic specialties
not related to medical organizations (healthy).
The method for assessing the anxiety in medical workers during the pandemic of the novel coronavirus
infection COVID-19 was the original test method «Application of the Integrative Anxiety
Test», created in 2005 at the St. Petersburg Psychoneurological Research Institute named after
V. M. Bekhterev by PhD Candidate in Psychology A. P. Bizyuk, PhD in Medicine, professor
L. I. Vasserman, and PhD Candidate in Medicine B. V. Iovlev. The technique is reliable and adapted
for the Russian-speaking population, which was the basis for its use in the study of anxiety in
healthcare workers during the pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection COVID-19.
The obtained data were processed using the Statistica package from StatSof t (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, interrelated with
the provision of regular or occasional care to COVID-19 patients, which, under conditions of
exposure to increased levels of occupational stress, leads to an increase in the level of anxiety in
these categories of medical workers. The increase in the level of anxiety among medical workers
of 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 fatigue. Fatigue can affect behavior, communication,
learning, and decision-making, which generally leads to an increase in the level of anxiety of
doctors and nursing staff.
Limitations of the study. The study has regional (Samara Region) and professional (in terms of
detailing working conditions in the studied comparison groups) limitations.
Conclusion. Thus, the obtained data indicate that when identifying risk factors for an increase in
the level of anxiety in medical workers providing care 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.