The level of trust in healthcare professionals in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic.

INTRODUCTION AND

OBJECTIVE

The level of trust in the healthcare professionals in Poland is one of the lowest in the European Union. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a sense of danger due to the risk of infection and death. The aim of the survey was to determine the level of trust that Polish citizens have in healthcare professionals and the factors related to trust, including concern of SARS-Cov-2 infection and their opinion on pandemic management.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

The study comprised 1,218 adult citizens of Poland aged 18-90. The study was conducted on a representative sample at the national level. Data were collected between 6-16 September 2021.

RESULTS

The highest percentage of respondents expressed trust in healthcare workers in terms of their competences (66.1%), and the lowest in terms of equal treatment of patients (43.7%). More than half (53.0%) of those with a very low level of trust in medical staff negatively assessed the government's actions related to the pandemic. In this group, 59.8% were not afraid of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Multivariable logistic regression showed that people with a very low level of trust in medical staff had twice the chance (OR=2.09; 95%CI: 1.23-3.56) of being unvaccinated against COVID-19, compared to those with a very high level of trust.

CONCLUSIONS

The issue of trust in medical personnel is multi-dimensional. The highest percentage of individuals expressed trust in the competences of doctors and their level of engagement in their work. The majority of doubts concerned the equality of treatment of patients. Elderly individuals tended to exhibit more trust in medical personnel compared to younger individuals. Reluctance to vaccination against COVID-19 was associated with a lack of trust in medical personnel.