State of health among academicians of higher medical and postgraduate educational organizations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The work of the teaching staff and department head is associated with great emotional stress, prolonged attention strain, and possibility of computer radiation exposure that affects vision.
 AIMS: To characterize the state of health of teachers of higher medical and postgraduate educational organizations.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS: During the study, content analysis, analytical methods, direct observation, organizational experiment, copying data from information and statistical documents, expert assessments, and questionnaire and personalized survey were conducted. In total, 1209 questionnaires were processed during the study (each teacher and head filled out 3 questionnaires). The main importance was on the state of health.
 RESULTS: Various diseases, regardless of the workplace, were detected in 76.6% of the interviewed department heads and 75.6% of the teachers. Risks for morbidity with central nervous, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal diseases increased with work experience, indicating the relationship between morbidity and professional activities of teachers and department heads. The results showed that teachers and department heads do not always undergo regular medical examinations, which causes health deterioration and subsequently negatively affects the desire to improve their competencies.
 CONCLUSIONS: Insufficient preventive work in various educational organizations contributes to high levels of morbidity among doctors, especially nervous system disorders, leading to the syndrome of psycho-emotional burnout in the department heads of medical higher and postgraduate educational organizations.