Post-COVID Challenges in Occupational Medicine as a Branch of Clinical and Educational Medicine

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has exhausted the employees of hospital center and had a negative impact on medical students. AIM: The aims are to show the efforts of Occupational Medicine to provide support for healthcare workers and to increase student’s interest in O.M. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Out of the total number of employees of the Clinical Hospital Center Rijeka, which is 3500, 275 of them claim for recognition of COVID-19 occupational diseases in 2022. The 6th-year medical students of the Rijeka Faculty of Medicine, 130 in total and 22 sanitary engineers were surveyed by the quality service regarding their satisfaction with the Occupational Medicine classes. Statsoft Statistica 10 was used to calculate the results. RESULTS: All HCW are recognized as having COVID-19 as a professional disease. Older age correlated with greater absenteeism. Hospital employees are dissatisfied, tired, they demand work benefits, contraindications for shift work, night work, work in COVID centers, and requesting maternity leave. Many also quit their jobs the hospital management is looking for and hiring new employees, who quickly leave due to difficult working conditions and low incomes. Occupational medicine also has a problem with students. During the pandemic, classes were held online. Interest in classes declined, a small number of students joined the lectures, but all responded to the survey. The answers showed a lack of interest in the Occupational Medicine course. With subsiding of the pandemic, it would be obligatory to continue “live” classes, take students on a tour of industrial facilities, and cancel the failed evaluation of teachers. CONCLUSION: Easing of working conditions for HCW and changes in teaching is necessary.