AN INVESTIGATION OF PERCEIVED STRESS LEVEL OF PHYSICIANS IN THE FIELD OF THORACIC SURGERY BEFORE AND DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIA IN TERMS OF SOME VARIABLES

Abstract

Stress is one of the main problems experienced today. The behaviors that people show in these situations of pressure and limitation are defined as stress. In this study, the perceived stress levels of the assistant physician, specialist physician and faculty physicians working in the field of thoracic surgery before and during the pandemic period of COVID-19 were determined. In addition, the perceived stress levels of doctors working in the field of thoracic surgery were examined in terms of variables such as gender, marital status, job position, experience, satisfaction with the institution and monthly income level. The research was carried out with the doctors selected by the probability random sampling method. A total of 66 assistant physicians, specialist physicians and academic staff, 23 women (34.8%), 43 men (65.2%) from different hospitals participated in the study. Questionnaire method and semi-structured interview technique were used in the research as data collection tools. In the research, The Perceived Stress Scale, which is developed by Cohen, Kamarc and Mermelstein (1983) and adapted to Turkish by Eskin et al (2013), designed to measure the perception of how stressful they are in some negative situations that people face in their lives was used. Demographic information and Perceived Stress Scale were prepared and delivered to physicians in an online format. Semi-structured interviews were made by phone or face-to-face. While the satisfaction rate of the physicians involved in thoracic surgery from the working environments before the COVID-19 pandemic and the pandemic process were 89.2%and 69%, respectively. This difference in satisfaction rates for both periods was statistically significant. The analysis revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between the total scores of the perceived stress before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the pandemic period. When the perceived stress levels differed according to various variables before and during the COVID-19 pandemic process, it was seen that the perceived stress levels of the physicians who were satisfied and not satisfied with the institution they worked in the pandemic process differed significantly. The results of the logistic regression analysis carried out were the satisfaction of the workplace, the inability to control the important things in the life of the scale (question 2), the frequency of feeling nervous and stressed (question 3), the feeling that everything went well (question 7) and the situations to deal with the things to be done (8th question) showed that the answers given to the questions differ statistically according to the periods.