Relationships of doctors and patients of the infection hospital during the 1st and 2nd waves of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Aim. To conduct a comparative analysis of the relationship between doctors and patients in a regional infectious diseases hospital to combat the complications of COVID-19 during the 1st and 2nd waves of the pandemic.
 Materials and methods. The basis of the study was the infectious diseases hospital deployed in the City Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Nizhny Novgorod. The hospital treated patients with complications of coronavirus infection with concomitant therapeutic or surgical pathology. The study was conducted taking into account the principles of robust management through questioning, on issues related to the social characteristics of patients and their subjective assessments of relationships with medical personnel. The scope of the study was 129 people.
 Results. The study did not reveal any changes in the relationship between medical workers and patients; both in the 1st and in the 2nd wave of the pandemic, they were built on mutual respect and empathy: medical workers do their best to support patients, the latter, in turn, understand the difficulties of staff work in an infectious diseases hospital and feel gratitude. The established facts are convincing proof of the high level of readiness of medical organizations and their employees to work in extreme conditions associated with a tense epidemic situation.
 Conclusion. Thus, the results of this study indicate the formation in the 1st wave of the pandemic of a model of relationships built on the principles of mutual trust, support and avoidance of conflicts between doctors and patients of the regional infectious diseases hospital and the preservation of this model during the 2nd wave of the pandemic.