Features Contact with the Doctor and Satisfaction with the Quality of Care for Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19

Background. The number of hospitalized patients diagnosed with coronavirus infection in March–May 2020 increased in almost all countries. Of course, such a pandemic has become a challenge for the entire health care system. In the current conditions, maintaining high standards of quality of medical care, establishing contact between specialists and the patient is a separate difficult task; at the same time, it is precisely the contact with specialists and the subjectively perceived quality of care that plays an important role in establishing compliance, and, therefore, in the success of patient treatment. Our research is devoted to the search for ways to solve this problem.

Aims — to study the features of the emotional state of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and describe the contribution of these features to interaction in the doctor-patient dyad and satisfaction with the medical care received.

Methods. The study involved 127 people hospitalized with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. The research methods used: 1) a questionnaire developed by the authors, which included socio-demographic data and a block of questions about interaction with a doctor and medical personnel; 2) the Russian-language version of the Beck Depression Inventory; 3) Russian-language version of the GAD-7 anxiety questionnaire.

Results. 25.4% of participants have pronounced signs of anxiety, 24.13% — signs of depression; 54% of patients indicate that the help they receive in the framework of hospitalization is sufficient; 7% speak of the need for support from a psychologist. Formulated information about what is happening with the patient is the key factor in contact with a doctor (for 62.9%), and a visible improvement in well-being is important only for 43.4%. The presence of anxious and depressive symptoms makes a qualitative difference in establishing contact with a doctor and assessing the severity of one’s own condition.

Conclusions. Based on the results of the study, in the future, it is possible to formulate various strategies for working with patients showing high rates of depressive and anxious experiences: such strategies should take into account the importance of close contact with the doctor and detailed information for patients. It is also important when building further work to take into account age characteristics (for example, a greater focus on working with a psychologist among the young population group), the time of hospitalization (whether they coincide with the dates traditionally significant in culture) and the gender of patients. It is also important to take into account that in a COVID-19 situation, it is decisive in contact with a doctor to obtain clear and accessible information about the patient’s condition and prescriptions made on time, and not a significant improvement in well-being.