Distress and burnout among genetic service providers

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the nature, sources, prevalence, and consequences of distress and burnout among genetics professionals. Methods: Mailed survey of randomly selected clinical geneticists (MDs), genetic counselors, and genetic nurses. Results: Two hundred and fourteen providers completed the survey (55% response rate). Eight discrete sources of distress were identified forming a valid 28-item scale (␣ ϭ 0.89). The greatest sources of distress were compassion stress, the burden of professional responsibility, negative patient regard, and concerns about informational bias. Genetic counselors were significantly more likely to experience personal values conflicts, burden of professional responsibility, and concerns about informational bias than MDs or nurses. Burnout scores were lower among those practicing more than 20 years and nurses. Distress scores were positively correlated with burnout and professional dissatisfaction (P Ͻ 0.0001). Eighteen percent of respondents think about leaving patient care, and burnout was the most significant predictor. Predictors of burnout included greater distress, fewer years in practice, working in universitybased settings, being a genetic counselor or an MD, and deriving less meaning from patient care. Conclusions: Genetic service providers experience various types of distress that may be risk factors for burnout and professional dissatisfaction. Interventions to reduce distress and burnout are needed for both trainees and practitioners. Genet Med 2009:11(7): 527-535.

Women’s experiences receiving abnormal prenatal chromosomal microarray testing results

“…Previous research has documented that giving bad news, coping with uncertain information, and facilitating decision-making, especially in the face of uncertainty, are among the most distressing tasks faced by genetic counselors. 35,36 Unfortunately, to reduce their own distress, some genetic counselors may withdraw from clients in these situations. Support for and training of clinicians to deal with uncertainty and assist clients making decisions based on uncertain information are needed.…”

Conflict and emotional exhaustion in obstetrician-gynaecologists: a national survey

“…12 Among obstetrician-gynaecologists (ob/gyns), emotional exhaustion has been associated with lower career satisfaction, 3 and feelings of emotional exhaustion are central to the burnout syndrome in clinicians. 4 Though not studied extensively among ob/gyns, conflicts have been associated with emotional exhaustion in other clinicians, suggesting an important relationship between conflicts in the clinical encounter and clinicians' emotional responses to their work.…”

“…4 Though not studied extensively among ob/gyns, conflicts have been associated with emotional exhaustion in other clinicians, suggesting an important relationship between conflicts in the clinical encounter and clinicians' emotional responses to their work. 12 As a result, physicians who cultivate empathy in their practice may be better able to avoid and resolve conflicts. 5 …”

Conflicts in Learning to Care for Critically Ill Newborns: “It Makes Me Question My Own Morals”

“…The empathy scores in our sample decreased steadily with greater training, as has been shown in other areas of medicine (Chen et al 2007;Neumann et al 2011). Compassion fatigue, or the lessening of clinician compassion in the face of repeated experiences with patient suffering, often results in significant clinician distress and burnout (Bernhardt et al 2009. Though our sample size was small, it is interesting to note that the narratives of those participants with the lowest empathy scores were most often focused on the irritations and frustrations of being a trainee in the NICU, while those with the highest empathy scores wrote more about interactions with families and related internal conflicts.…”