Occupational Risk Factors and Consequences of Mental Disadaptation in Medical Specialists and Rescuers in Emergency Situations: Current State of the Problem

Abstract. The purpose of the study is to analyze modern domestic and foreign publications, devoted to the study of factors of professional risk and consequences of mental disadaptation in rescuers and medical workers in emergency situations.

Materials and research methods. The publications’ analysis was performed using the PubMed database, electronic scientific library eLIBRARY.RU, open access statistical reporting data, as well as official websites of relevant scientific journals.

Combinations of specific terms related to emergency services, post-traumatic stress disorder, mental maladaptation and professional risk factors of extreme professions, including medical ones, were used.

Results of the study and their analysis. While performing their service duties, rescuers and medical workers, acting in conditions of emergency with numerous human and material losses, being exposed to the threat to their own life, health or psycho-emotional condition, face a variety of critical incidents. As the number of lived traumatic situations and events increases, individuals involved in rescue operations are at higher risk of developing the pathology known as post-traumatic stress disorder. Throughout the relevant scientific literature, there is a consensus that health care workers in emergencies are at increased risk for high-level stress, anxiety, depression, burnout, addiction, and PTSD, which can have long-term psychological consequences. The specialists developed and implemented new methods and approaches to support medical specialists participating in the liquidation of medical and sanitary consequences of emergencies; substantiated the need for normative legal regulation of psychophysiological examination of personnel during periodic medical examinations, which will allow to maintain “health of the healthy”.