Burnout among healthcare professionals in Nepal: An analytical study

Abstract

Introduction: The greater risk of burnout among healthcare professionals is likely to develop an adverse effect on their personal life and the patients’ care. The main aim of this study was to assess the levels of burnout experienced by healthcare workers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2020 to March 2021 among healthcare professionals working in different institutions. A convenient sampling technique was applied. An online questionnaire was developed using Google Forms. Results: The total burnout score among health professionals ranged from low (9.5%), moderate (89.5%) to high (1%). The burnout scores reported were of moderate level among doctors (89%) and nurses (92.2%). There was a negative correlation between burnout and compassion satisfaction (r = - 0.207: p<0.003). Healthcare professionals perceived burnout from time pressure (22.2%), followed by administrative work (20.1%) and dealing with patient’s relatives (13.5%). The identified effective way to minimize burnout was family support (29.1%), friends (21.2%), and their interest/hobbies (15.4%). Conclusion: Healthcare professionals in Nepal bear a moderate level of burnout. The main sources of burnout experienced by health workers were time pressure, administrative work, and dealing with patients’ relatives.

Compassion Fatigue, Burnout and Compassion Satisfaction Among Nurses Working in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Nepal During Covid-19 Pandemic

“…The findings of this study revealed that nurses have suffered moderate to high levels of compassion fatigue (77.0% -3.5%) and burnout (76.5% -0.9%) during the COVID-19 health crisis. These findings are almost similar with the study conducted in Nepal, which reported moderate to high level of burnout among nurses (92.2%-3.9%) and secondary traumatic stress relationship was found between burnout and compassion fatigue (r= .522: p=0.000) which is consistent with the findings of studies done in Nepal 12 and Spain. 17 Similar result is reported in meta-analysis in which compassion fatigue and burnout were positively correlated (r =0.59) whereas compassion satisfaction was negatively correlated with burnout (r = -0.446) and compassion fatigue (r= -0.226).…”

“…Consistent findings were reported in the study conducted in Nepal, where 88.2% of nurses reported moderate level of compassion satisfaction. 12 However, Franza et al (2020) showed 45.83% of nurse had moderate to high level of compassion satisfaction in the time of covid-19 outbreak. 7 Likewise, Borges (2019) found high level of compassion satisfaction among 51% of the nurses in Portugal.…”

“…(92.1%). 12 Likewise, first-line nurses in China reported moderate level of fatigue while fighting against COVID-19 pandemic. 9 However, study conducted in Northern Uganda 8 revealed 49.11% of nurses had high level of compassion fatigue and study of Malaysia reported high level of burnout among 39.4% of nurses.…”

“…9 Moreover, work-related fatigue increases medical error, 10 absenteeism and turnover among nurses whereas decreases morale. 11 In Nepalese context, the issue of compassion fatigue and burnout among nurses is overlooked and there have been fewer studies 12,13 which address these situations among health workers. Hence, this study aimed to assess the compassion fatigue, burnout and compassion satisfaction among nurses working in a tertiary care hospital.…”

Burnout among doctors working at a tertiary care hospital during pandemic of COVID-19 in Kashmir Valley, India

“…The same findings have been noted in multiple other studies and may be associated with physiological age-related changes or with added responsibility with increased age . 28,32,34 The mean scores for both the disengagement and exhaustion domains were significantly higher in female gender. These findings are consistent with available literature.…”