Thanatology and health personnel coping with death in the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: To determine the coping level of health personnel with death after having received or not training in palliative care. Method: A cross-sectional survey study. Application of the Bugen Scale as validated for Mexico, in a Likert-scale format, in a sample of 394 health staffers; one participant was excluded for not signing a letter of consent. The survey was addressed to health personnel in the public and private sectors, who were currently practicing medicine and who agreed to answer the survey. A Mann-Whitney U-test was performed to compare responses to the scale. Result: Significance was found in the Bugen scale in favor of those who took a thanatology course. The Mann Whitney U-test between those who took a thanatology course and those who did not clearly favored those who took a thanatology course in all responses. Comparison using the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there were differences in the responses as compared according to the following categories: sex (p = 0.002), religion (p = 0.023), and adulthood (≥ 50 years vs < 50 years) (p = 0.000) The comparisons by marital status and professional field showed no differences when contrasted. Conclusions: Based on the results presented, we consider that the training of health personnel in the thanatological field should be considered both curricularly and extracurricularly, since it constitutes a tool for personal reflection that positively influences own attitudes, communication and the physician-patient relationship. (AU)