Subjective Assessment of Risk Factors Associated with Electronic Device Usage by Healthcare Professionals

Introduction. In modern conditions of rapid development of information and communication technologies, healthcare workers start experiencing adverse health effects of such risk factors as an uncontrolled use of electronic devices and associated physical inactivity, sleep deprivation, and impaired work/rest patterns during their professional training. Our purpose was to study subjective assessment of risks from electronic device usage by medical workers.
Methods. A specially developed questionnaire was distributed among 148 doctors, 72 nurses and paramedics, and 119 professors of medical universities. In addition to that, selective measurements of body composition were taken in homogeneous cohorts of female healthcare professionals serving as teachers of clinical departments of medical universities (33) or nurses (36) who gave an informed consent to participate in the study and filled out the questionnaire. The statistical software package Statistica 13 PL (StatSoft, USA) was used for statistical data processing.
Results. In general, the respondents gave an adequate assessment of health effects of electronic device usage. Nurses and paramedics appeared to be the least trained in issues of the safe use of electronic devices. Almost 61 % of them had varying degrees of overweight and obesity; yet, 51.4 % of nurses and paramedics rated their health as good being aware of the risks related to overweight. Medical university staff adequately assessed potential health risks and demonstrated better skills of a safe use of electronic devices in everyday life, payed more attention to their physical activity and nutrition, and were committed to developing appropriate competencies in their students.
Conclusion. Development of skills of a risk-free electronic device usage in healthcare professionals should begin in a medical school.

1. Kiku PF, Gigaev DS, Shiter NS, Sabirova KM, Mezentseva MA. The concept of risk factors for the health of the population. Byulleten’ Fiziologii i Patologii Dykhaniya. 2016;(62):101–109. (In Russ.) doi: 10.12737/23260

2. Eryomin AL. Information hygiene: modern approaches to hygienic evaluation of content and physical signals of information carriers. Gigiena i Sanitariya. 2020;99(4):351–355. (In Russ.). doi: 10.33029/0016-9900-2020-99-4-351-355

3. Pavlenko EV. The physicians in conditions of E-health care: attitude of specialists to application of computer and internet in professional activities. Sotsiologiya Meditsiny. 2015;14(2):30–35. (In Russ.)

4. Denisov EL, Eryomin AL. Information, health, innovations: hygienic aspects. Vestnik Rossiyskogo Gosudarstvennogo Meditsinskogo Universiteta. 2013;(5-6):114–118. (In Russ.)

5. Milushkina OY, Skoblina NA, Markelova SV, Popov VI, Sokolova NV. The use of electronic devices by students, parents and teachers before and after the transition to distant learning. Bulletin of Russian State Medical University. 2020;(3):77–82. doi: 10.24075/brsmu.2020.037

6. Markelova SV. The role of parents, teachers and health professionals in forming knowledge, abilities and skills of a safe use of electronic devices by high school children. Zdorov’e Naseleniya i Sreda Obitaniya. 2020;8(329):50–57. (In Russ.) doi: 10.35627/2219-5238/2020-329-8-50-57

7. Esaulenko IE, Petrova TN, Gubina OI, Goncharov AYu, Tatarkova YuV. The role of socio-hygienic factors in the development of diseases of the organs of vision in medical students and the possibility of their prevention. Gigiena i Sanitariya. 2018;97(8):750–755. (In Russ.) doi: 10.18821/0016-9900-2018-97-8-750-755

8. Lemaire JB, Wallace JE. Burnout among doctors. BMJ. 2017;358:j3360. doi: 10.1136/bmj.j3360

9. Ivanov AV, Petruchuk OE. The impact of socio-hygienic conditions on physician’s health. Byulleten’ Natsionalnogo Nauchno-Issledovatelskogo Instituta Obshchestvennogo Zdorovya. 2005;(2):14–17. (In Russ.)

10. Roslaya NA, Plotko EG, Lebedeva AV. Influence of occupational risk factors on the health status of healthcare workers in the Sverdlovsk region. Vestnik Rossiyskogo Gosudarstvennogo Meditsinskogo Universiteta. 2013;(5–6):129–132. (In Russ.)

11. Ivanova AN, Michayluts AP. Hygienic assessment of occupational morbidity of health workers in the Kemerovo region. Meditsina v Kuzbasse. 2010;9(3):41–43. (In Russ.)

12. Nevrycheva EV, Zhmerenetsky KV, Nozdrina NS. Health of the healthcare professionals. Zdravookhranenie Dal’nego Vostoka. 2016;(1(67)):72–82. (In Russ.)

13. Popov MV, Libina II, Melikhova EP. [Assessment of the impact of gadgets on the psychoemotional state of students.] Molodezhnyy Innovatsionnyy Vestnik. 2019;8(2):676–678. (In Russ.) 10.1177/2050312119838426

14. Milushkina OYu, Eremin AL, Popov VI, et al. Hygienic assessment and optimization of working conditions of teachers during distance learning. Meditsina Truda i Promyshlennaya Ekologiya. 2020;60(7):424–434. (In Russ.) doi: 10.31089/1026-9428-2020-60-7-424-434

15. Pivovarov YP, Skoblina NA, Milushkina OYu, et al. Use of internet surveys in the assessment of awareness of the basics of a healthy lifestyle. Sovremennye Problemy Zdravookhraneniya i Meditsinskoy Statistiki. 2020;(2):398–413. (In Russ.) doi: 10.24411/2312-2935-2020-00055

16. Petrukhin NN, Boyko IV, Andreenko ON, Loginova NN, Grebenkov SV. Detection rate of occupational diseases in public health employees according to results of medical inspections. Gigiena i Sanitariya. 2019;98(6):642–645. (In Russ.) http://dx.doi.org/10.18821/0016-9900-2019-98-6-642-645

17. Khamisa N, Oldenburg B, Peltzer K, Ilic D. Work related stress, burnout, job satisfaction and general health of nurses. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2015;12(1):652–66. doi: 10.3390/ijerph120100652

18. Krom IL, Erugina MV, Eremina MG, et al. Occupational health risks for doctors in contemporary public healthcare systems (review). Health Risk Analysis. 2020;(2):185–192. (In Russ.) doi: 10.21668/health.risk/2020.2.20

19. Rothenberger DA. Physician burnout and well-being: A systematic review and framework for action. Dis Colon Rectum. 2017;60(6):567–576. doi: 10.1097/DCR.0000000000000844

20. Glybochko PV, Esaulenko IE, Popov VI, Petrova TN. Health of Russian medical university students: problems and solutions. Sechenovskiy Vestnik. 2017;(2(28)):4–11. (In Russ.)

21. Ilić IM, Arandjelović MŽ, Jovanović JM, Nešić MM. Relationships of work-related psychosocial risks, stress, individual factors and burnout. Questionnaire survey among emergency physicians and nurses. Med Pr. 2017;68(2):167–178. (In Czech.) doi: 10.13075/mp.5893.00516

22. Krylov VM, Krylova AV, Ponomareva TA. Features of health-saving behavior of students. Kazanskiy Sotsialno-Gumanitarnyy Vestnik. 2019;(6(41)):28–32. (In Russ.) doi: 10.24153/2079-5912-2019-10-6-28-32

23. Rose SA, Poynter PS, Anderson JW, Noar SM, Conigliaro J. Physician weight loss advice and patient weight loss behavior change: a literature review and meta-analysis of survey data. Int J Obes (Lond). 2013;37(1):118–28. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2012.24

24. Lobelo F, de Quevedo IG. The evidence in support of physicians and health care providers as physical activity role models. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016;10(1):36–52. doi: 10.1177/1559827613520120

25. Malik S, Blake H, Batt M. How healthy are our nurses? New and registered nurses compared. Br J Nurs. 2011;20(8):489–96. doi: 10.12968/bjon.2011.20.8.489

26. Al-Qahtani MF. Health-promoting lifestyle behaviors among nurses in private hospitals in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. J Egypt Public Health Assoc. 2015;90(1):29–34. doi: 10.1097/01.EPX.0000461325.97703.8a

27. Priano SM, Hong, OS, Chen JL. Lifestyles and health-related outcomes of U.S. hospital nurses: A systematic review. Nurs Outlook. 2018;66(1):66–76. doi: 10.1016/j.outlook.2017.08.013

28. Keele R. To role model or not? Nurses’ challenges in promoting a healthy lifestyle. Workplace Health Saf. 2019;67(12):584–591. doi: 10.1177/2165079919828738

29. Nacar M, Baykan Z, Cetinkaya F, et al. Health promoting lifestyle behaviour in medical students: a multicentre study from Turkey. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2014;15(20): 8969–74. doi: 10.7314/APJCP.2014.15.20.8969

30. Al-Kandari F, Vidal VL, Thomas D. Health-promoting lifestyle and body mass index among College of Nursing students in Kuwait: a correlational study. Nurs Health Sci. 2008;10(1):43–50. doi: 10.1111/j.1442-2018.2007.00370.x

31. Solhi M, Fard Azar FE, Abolghasemi J, Maheri M, Irandoost SF, Khalili S. The effect of educational intervention on health-promoting lifestyle: Intervention mapping approach. J Educ Health Promot. 2020;9:196. doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_768_19

32. Alzahrani SH, Malik AA, Bashawri J, et al. Health-promoting lifestyle profile and associated factors among medical students in a Saudi university. SAGE Open Med. 2019;7:2050312119838426. doi: 10.1177/2050312119838426

33. Mašina T, Madžar T, Musil V, Milošević M. Differences in health-promoting lifestyle profile among Croatian medical students according to gender and year of study. Acta Clin Croat. 2017;56(1):84–91. doi: 10.20471/acc.2017.56.01.13

34. Popov VI, Libina II, Gubina OI. [Problems of improving and optimizing the educational process in a medical university.] Zdorov’e – Osnova Chelovecheskogo Potentsiala – Problemy i Puti Ikh Resheniya. 2010;5(1):185–186. (In Russ.)

35. Jain A, Baviskar MP, Narawne S, Kunkulol R. Is the medical teacher’s mental health neglected? Effects of perceived student attitudes and behaviors on mental health and lifestyle of teachers in a rural university of western Maharashtra in India. J Family Med Prim Care. 2020;9(12):6046–6050. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1463_20