Quality of Life of Hematologists in the Russian Federation According to the RAND SF-36 Questionnaire

Abstract

Medical profession is notable for its enormous social value and associated with no less responsibility. At the same time, society’s requirements for doctors constantly increase. The regulation of medical activities in various disciplines becomes more and more stringent. The aim of the present article was to study the quality of life of 104 hematologists working in different regions of the Russian Federation. For this purpose, the Russian-language version of RAND SF-36 health survey questionnaire was used. Young doctors aged 35-44 years showed lowest scores on mental health inventory which may indicate negative emotional status and a low level of positive emotions. Compared to relatively healthy respondents, hematologists show a low level of emotional role functioning that may also indicate negative emotional status which in turn negatively affects the quality of health care delivery and appears to be a contributing factor in burnout syndrome. Compared to relatively healthy respondents, hematologists show higher pain scores which may indicate a specific attitude of doctors to pain due to their professional approach. Similar quality of life indicators indirectly suggest that hematologists in different regions of the Russian Federation regard their professional activities as a priority, and it affects their quality of life. Both the results obtained and the literature review prove the relevance of the study of human resources and development of programs aimed at continuity of personnel in the health care system. The quality of life of doctors in different disciplines should become the object of comprehensive sociological, clinical, and sanitation studies which will permit to design a program to improve the quality of life of the medical professionals.