Emotional exhaustion is associated with work related stressors: a cross-sectional multicenter study in Malaysian public hospitals

Abstract

Introduction.Emotional exhaustion is an important component of burnout. Burnout is common among doctors. It affects the physical and mental health of doctors, their performance and the quality of care they provide. This study aimed to investigate the level and factors associated with emotional exhaustion among doctors in pediatric practice in Malaysia. Population and methods. A self-administered questionnaire was used in this multicenter cross-sectional study. It included questions on the socio-demographics, work characteristics, Emotional Exhaustion, Perceived Stress Scale and sources of job stress. Descriptive, univariate and multivariate analysis were conducted using the SPSS software. Results. A total of 197 doctors working in the Pediatric department in eight hospitals returned complete questionnaire. High and moderate emotional exhaustion was reported by 25.4% and 24.4% doctors, respectively. In bivariate analysis, 29 out of the 38 items of sources of stress showed significant association with emotional exhaustion (p <0.05).The significant predictors of emotional exhaustion in the multivariate analysis were: scoring higher on the Perceived Stress Score, dealing with patient's psychosocial problems, disrespectful interactions with colleagues/ subordinates, lack of appreciation from supervisors, lack of incentives and promotions, time pressures and deadlines to meet, and setting unrealistic goals of having them imposed on oneself (p <0.05). The most common source of stress was dealing with difficult parents (80.2%). Conclusions. Emotional exhaustion is associated with sources of stress in the workplace but not with socio-demographic factors.

Prevalence and associated factors of burnout among family medicine residents in Al Madina, Saudi Arabia

“…In addition, multiple work-related stressors were significantly associated with burnout among family medicine residents in this study. Consistent with previous burnout literature across different specialties,[510112930] residents who perceived various stressors like work overload or having to do work outside one's competencies and those who perceived work nature as mentally straining showed positive relationships with burnout in this study. Literature highlighted that burnout catalyzes serious personal repercussions like substance abuse,[31] family conflicts,[32] and suicidal ideation,[33] and much catastrophically compromising the efficacy of health care delivery system through increased medical errors.…”

“…[35] As residents undergo deeper insights of continuous medical education and training, previous studies have highlighted significant associations between other organization-related stressors with burnout. [11] This study found that performance pressures that impose time limitations were significantly associated with family medicine residents’ burnout. Concurrently, organizational attributes that demand unrealistic goals and having incompetent or disrespectful interactions with colleagues were significantly associated with burnout.…”

“…The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the EE subscale reported in the literature was satisfying (.88). [11] Sources of stress were assessed by 22 items which were obtained from the literature. [12] These items were headed by the following question: “To which extent does the following conditions cause stress to you.” Each item was scored from 0 ( causing no stress ) to 4 ( causing severe stress ).…”

“…The EE total score was categorized into low burnout (≤16), moderate burnout,[17181920212223242526] or high burnout (≥27). [11] To assess the association between burnout and sociodemographic and work characteristics, we used t test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. Correlation analysis was used to assess the association between burnout and sources of stress.…”

“…[9] High level of burnout was also reported in some developing countries such as Malaysia, Yemen, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon. [51011121314] No studies had been published about burnout among family residents in Saudi Arabia. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of burnout and its associated factors among family residents in Al Madina city, Saudi Arabia.…”