Working Conditions and Morbidity of Paramedical Personnel (Omsk, Russia)

One of the ways to reduce the shortage of paramedical staff is to improve their working conditions. The purpose of this study is to analyse the working conditions of paramedical personnel using the example of healthcare organizations in Omsk, Russia. Materials and methods. The research was carried out at the Centre for Continuing Education of Healthcare Workers (Omsk, Russia) in the period from 2022 to 2024. The study involved 2764 subjects aged 21–64 years (mean age 43.6 years) with working experience ranging between 1 and 47 years. Assessment reports on the working conditions of the paramedical personnel (1728 workplaces) were analysed. A survey and a morbidity analysis of the subjects were conducted. To interpret the results, we used the methods of descriptive and nonparametric statistics as well as cognitive visualization. Results. We found that at 59.2 % of the workplaces of the paramedical personnel at Omsk health facilities, the working conditions can be classified as harmful (class 3.1–3.2 hazard). This is due to the negative influence of biological, physical and psychological environmental factors. The following characteristic features of professional activity of paramedical personnel were identified: 1) shift work; 2) multitasking; 3) working under time constraints; 4) performing additional functions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical workers are subject to chronic stress and tend to experience emotional burnout, leading to unhealthy lifestyle. The impact of adverse environmental factors accumulates over time; as a result, chronic diseases are more frequently observed and have a more severe course in medical workers than in other population groups. To increase working efficiency and career longevity of paramedical personnel, it is necessary to develop new methods aimed to reduce the impact of negative factors of professional environment on the body and to prevent non-communicable diseases, including through the use of digital technologies.