Professional Burnout of Medical Workers Before, During and After the Pandemic

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Abstract

The problem of professional burnout attracted the attention of researchers and health care organizers even before the pandemic, it was expected that occupational risks during the pandemic would increase the severity of the indicators of professional burnout of physicians, and a decrease in the number of patients and the end of the pandemic would reduce the indicators. Studies have shown the presence of fluctuations in the severity of professional burnout during periods of various waves of morbidity. It is noted that during the pandemic, the most effective coping methods were coping related to obtaining family support and social approval. But after the end of the pandemic, there was a decrease in the effectiveness of these methods in the situation of combating professional burnout, and the search for the meaning of their work turned out to be more productive. It was noted that after the pandemic, compassion fatigue and the “second victim syndrome” played an important role in professional burnout. As a conceptualization of the data obtained on the professional burnout of medical workers before, during and after the pandemic, there was a model of psychological experience of a natural disaster. Studies have shown that certain groups of medical workers are more susceptible to professional burnout. Among them, a special place is occupied by students and residents who are at risk both before and during the pandemic and after it. Despite the increase in psychological stress, psychological exhaustion, the willingness of doctors to seek psychological help remains low at different stages of the pandemic and is associated with fear of discrimination in the professional environment.

General Information

Keywords: professional burnout, pandemic, Covid-19, medical stuff

Journal rubric: Medical Psychology

Article type: review article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2023120206

Received: 01.05.2023

Accepted:

For citation: Suroegina A.Y., Kholmogorova A.B. Professional Burnout of Medical Workers Before, During and After the Pandemic [Elektronnyi resurs]. Sovremennaia zarubezhnaia psikhologiia = Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology, 2023. Vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 64–73. DOI: 10.17759/jmfp.2023120206. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Anastasiia Y. Suroegina, PhD in Psychology, Senior Researcher of the Department of Acute Poisoning and Psychosomatic Disorders, N.V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute of Emergency Medicine, Clinical Psychologist, Center of Rehabilitation “Overcoming”, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2616-8923, e-mail: suroegina@gmail.com

Alla B. Kholmogorova, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, Leading Researcher, Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry (A Branch of the National Medical Research Centre for Psychiatry and Narcology), Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5194-0199, e-mail: kholmogorova@yandex.ru

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