Oncological caution of medical workers who take part in adult dispensary examinations

In recent decades, the incidence of malignancies has steadily increased. They rank second among the causes of mortality in Russia. Primary prevention, early diagnosis, and screening play an important role in reducing the incidence of malignancies and cancer-related mortality. Therefore, special attention should be paid to cancer-related components of medical check-ups for certain groups of adults. Some studies showed that properly organized medical examination can significantly (up to 30%) reduce the overall mortality and cancer-related mortality. High mortality rates from malignancies are due to, among other things, medical and social factors: the late seeking of medical care and the low level of oncological alertness of healthcare professionals. To reduce cancer-related mortality, it is necessary to increase the cancer alertness of both the population and the healthcare professionals providing primary health care. Objective. To assess the opinion of specialists on cancer alertness of healthcare professionals involved in medical check-ups of certain groups of the adult population. Materials and methods. The study was conducted using a correspondence survey with specially developed questionnaires. The survey included 367 healthcare professionals (physicians and nurses) involved in the medical examination. Statistical analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel. Results. The results of the anonymous correspondence survey showed that the preventive direction in the health care of the Russian Federation was assessed by the majority of respondents as excellent and good (51.1%); however, 66.8% of respondents believed that the knowledge in the preventive direction needs to be improved, and 72.5% reported the need for additional training on cancer alertness. The level of oncological alertness of healthcare professionals was considered high by 62.4%. 58.3% of respondents noted the positive impact of medical examinations of the adult population on oncological alertness among healthcare professionals, and 42.5% on oncological alertness among individuals. 77.7% of respondents reported a need for additional measures to increase individuals’ oncological awareness. The increase in the effectiveness of clinical examination of the adult population, including the oncological component, can be due to the inclusion of examination/consultation of an oncologist (21.0%), the expansion of the list of instrumental studies (18.0%), the calculation of the effectiveness indicator for the oncological component of clinical examination (15.3%), the inclusion the measurement of tumor markers in the blood (12.0%), and other less significant factors. Conclusion. The study showed that more than 60% of respondents rated the oncological alertness of healthcare professionals involved in medical examinations as high. However, it is necessary to increase oncological alertness not only among healthcare professionals involved in preventive medical examinations, but also among individuals, which requires the development of additional educational and preventive activities.