Issues of medical workers’ protection in the strategy of professional nursing and medical self-government in the healthcare system of Ukraine

Abstract

Summary. Recent health care reform measures in Ukraine, as well as changes in the functioning of the health care system throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, have made significant adjustments to the work of health professionals, especially medical nurses and physicians, who have a heavy workload at the primary level of healthcare, as well as round-the-clock monitoring and care at the secon­dary and tertiary level of healthcare. To address this problem, to improve the quality of work of nurses and doctors, the effective measures could be implemented, such as supporting new graduates – doctors and nurses with different levels of education, creating opportunities for them to continue their education and gain experience in certain fields of medicine and nursing, promoting positive collegial relations, creation of programs to reduce stress and increase financial compensation. In Ukraine, these issues have not received sufficient attention, therefore new ways to solve them are required taking into consideration of the experience of the developed countries.

The aim of the study ‒ to analyze the issues of protection of the interests of nurses and doctors in the health care system of Ukraine for a possible solution to these problems based on the professional self-government.

Materials and Methods. Using the methods of system analysis, the share of issues related to the protection of the interests of nurses and doctors in self-governing professional organizations in Ukraine is shown.

Results. The problematic issues of protection of the interests of nurses and doctors in health care institutions in Ukraine and ways to solve them through the system of medical self-government in a number of European countries are shown. The positive and problematic aspects of medical self-government in defending the interests of nurses and doctors are considered. In Ukraine, the prototype of self-governing organizations are public organizations such as the Medical Society, the Association of Nurses and Doctors, etc. Unfortunately, the issue of the interests of nurses and doctors is rather weakly reflected in them. More attention should be paid to determine the opportunities for participation in the decision of public health authorities, but only with the right advisory vote. Emphasis is placed on the problematic issues of continuing education of nurses and doctors. It is the medical self-government bodies that can propose and implement projects and schemes of professional development, using various motivating factors for professional development of medical staff.

Conclusions. Analysis of the situation of protection of health workers and their safety in the health care systems of Ukraine revealed certain problems, such as more insufficient legal and financial guarantees for health workers, as well as organizational gaps, with certain strategies of professional nursing and medical self-government. The reasons for this difficult situation are lack of funding and management problems. Regarding the prospects of resolving this block of issues, they can be solved by medical self-government bodies with appropriate legal support due to the adoption of the Law on Self-Government of Medical Professions in Ukraine.