Nessler Katarzyna, Studziński Krzysztof, Van Poel Esther, Willems Sara, Wójtowicz Ewa, Kryj-Radziszewska Elżbieta, Windak Adam
Department of Family Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, 31-061, Poland.
Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium.
BMC Prim Care. 2025 Jan 4;26(1):3. doi: 10.1186/s12875-024-02699-5.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused psychological distress to the population and healthcare workers. Physicians' well-being is essential and contributes significantly to overall health. This study aimed to assess the strain on Polish general practitioners from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and to ascertain the potential predictors of their distress.
Data was collected using a self-reported online questionnaire from 162 GPs in Poland between December 2020 and August 2021 as part of the international PRICOV-19 study. General practitioners' well-being was evaluated using the validated Mayo Clinic's expanded 9-item well-being index (eWBI). Spearman's correlation was used to measure the strength and direction of association between general practitioners' distress level and continuous variables, and for ordinal variables, Gamma correlation was recommended for many tide ranks. We also checked the association of the level of distress with continuous variables by categorizing them and applying the Kruskal-Wallis test likewise for a comparison of the distress in different practice locations.
A vast majority (80%) of respondents were considered at risk of distress during the COVID-19 outbreak, with an eWBI score of 2 or more. Higher distress scores were exhibited among general practitioners who reported increased responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and perceived need for additional training. The experience of collaboration with neighbouring practices and the provision of adequate governmental support emerged as significant protective factors against distress. No correlation was observed between Polish general practitioners' distress level and years of professional experience, number of patients in the practice, number of doctors working there, the practice's location, or working with more vulnerable patient populations.
Our findings proved that COVID-19 placed an extraordinary emotional burden on Polish general practitioners and highlighted the importance of targeted support services and resource allocation to primary healthcare in Poland in case of any potential future crisis similar to the COVID-19 pandemic.
新冠疫情给公众和医护人员带来了心理压力。医生的身心健康至关重要，对整体健康有重大贡献。本研究旨在评估新冠疫情对波兰全科医生的影响，并确定他们产生心理压力的潜在预测因素。
作为国际PRICOV-19研究的一部分，于2020年12月至2021年8月期间，使用自我报告的在线问卷从波兰的162名全科医生收集数据。使用经过验证的梅奥诊所扩展的9项幸福感指数（eWBI）评估全科医生的幸福感。Spearman相关性用于衡量全科医生的心理压力水平与连续变量之间关联的强度和方向，对于有序变量，对于多个等级推荐使用Gamma相关性。我们还通过对连续变量进行分类并同样应用Kruskal-Wallis检验来检查心理压力水平与连续变量的关联，以比较不同执业地点的心理压力情况。
在新冠疫情爆发期间，绝大多数（80%）受访者的eWBI得分为2分或更高，被认为有心理压力风险。在新冠疫情期间报告责任增加且认为需要额外培训的全科医生中，心理压力得分更高。与邻近诊所合作的经历以及获得足够的政府支持是抵御心理压力的重要保护因素。未观察到波兰全科医生的心理压力水平与专业经验年限、诊所患者数量、在那里工作的医生数量、诊所位置或与更脆弱患者群体合作之间存在相关性。
我们的研究结果证明，新冠疫情给波兰全科医生带来了巨大的情感负担，并强调了在未来出现任何类似于新冠疫情的潜在危机时，为波兰初级医疗保健提供有针对性的支持服务和资源分配的重要性。
