Burnout among clinicians in tertiary care setting

Abstract

Background: “Burnout” is defined as a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion, or a coping mechanism to working conditions that are stressful, demanding and lack of recognition. Effects of burnout are many and can eventually threaten one’s job satisfaction, relationship and also health. High patient load, long working hours, poor logistics and infrastructure support and unreasonable demands from patients make clinicians vulnerable for stress and burnout. Objective was to study the prevalence of burn out in clinicians and factors associated with burnout.Methods: The study was an observational descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among Doctors in clinical departments of a Tertiary Medical care setting in October-November 2015. Sample size was 97. Study was conducted using Maslach Burnout Inventory with additional questions on demographic factors, work experience, hours of work and speciality. The inventory comprised 22 items on a seven-point Likert scale. Frequency of symptoms (ranging from ‘0=never’ to ‘6=every day’). Burnout was measured in three dimensions - emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP) and personal accomplishment (PA). The data was collected after taking Institutional ethics committee approval and verbal consent from participants. Data was analyzed using MS Excel 2007.Results: About 15% 0f clinicians showed high emotional exhaustion, 9% high depersonalization, and 18% low Personal accomplishment. More Females showed burnout than males and more clinicians from surgical branches showed burnout when compared to medical branches.Conclusions: Burnout exists among healthcare professionals and measures should be taken to identify causes and take remedial actions.

Burnout and sleep quality among community health workers during the pandemic in selected city of Andhra Pradesh

“… 9 The present study found that years of work experience were significantly associated with work-related burnout; the studies conducted in Delhi and Andhra Pradesh among nurses and clinicians found that respondents with low years of expertise reported high levels of burnout. 10 , 11 …”

Physician burnout: Quo vadimus?

“…[8,[11][12][13] Two studies showed a positive association between burnout and female gender, [8,11] while a couple of others did not support this association. [12,13] Positive correlates of burnout include working in clinical departments, especially surgical departments, number of years spent in residency, [8,12] and personality traits such as sociability as well as the self-control and emotionality subconstructs of emotional intelligence (EI), [19] decreased participation in recreational activities, negative encounters with patient or attendants, and lack of perceived support and empathy from senior doctors. [13] Three major changes related to the health-care scenario in India appear to contribute to the increasing trend of physician burnout.…”

“…Langade et al, 2016 [11] Medical practitioners 5% [12] Interns and residents [8] All clinicians working in the institute…”

“…A total of six studies have evaluated this issue [ Table 1]. [8][9][10][11][12][13] Of these, five have been published in the past 3 years, perhaps indicative of the growing trend, and greater interest in studying burnout. The comparison of findings across studies is limited by heterogeneity in terms of participant characteristics (internists vs. residents vs. practicing physicians) and instruments employed to assess burnout.…”

“…Nearly 90% of the respondents (both medical residents and faculty) in an online survey from a state-funded university hospital in Chandigarh reported concerning levels of burnout (with nearly 75% of them being at moderate or severe risk of burnout). [13] Two studies from teaching hospitals in Vishakapatnam and Thiruvananthapuram [8,12] surveyed attending doctors and residents, respectively. Both found that nearly one-third of the respondents endorsed high burnout.…”