Physician's Burnout and the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study in Austria

Abstract

Background: The current study assesses the prevalence of burnout and psychological distress among general practitioners and physicians of various specialities, who are not working in a hospital, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally in this context, contributing factors are registered.Materials and Methods: Burnout and psychological distress were assessed with the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18). A newly developed self-reporting questionnaire was used to evaluate demographic data and pandemic-associated stress factors.Results: 252 general practitioners and 229 private practice physicians provided sufficient responses to the outcome variables for analysis. The prevalence of clinically relevant psychological distress was comparable between groups (12.4 vs. 9.2%). A larger proportion of general practitioners than specialists had intermediate (43.8 vs. 39.9%) or high burnout (26.9 vs. 22.0%) without reaching statistical significance for either category. When combining study participants with intermediate and high levels of burnout, the group difference attained significance (70.7 % vs. 61.9%).Conclusion: Our findings provide evidence that practicing physicians are at high risk of burnout in the context of the pandemic. Being single (standardized beta = 0.134), financial problems (beta = 0.136), and facing violence in patient care (beta = 0.135) were identified as significant predictors for psychological distress. Burnout was predicted by being single (beta = 0.112), financial problems (beta= 0.136), facing violence in patient care (beta = 0.093), stigmatization because of treatment of SARS-CoV-2-positive patients (beta = 0.150), and longer working hours during the pandemic (beta = 0.098).

Prevalence and correlates of burnout among physicians in a developing country facing multi-layered crises: a cross-sectional study

“…Physicians experienced ever-increasing pressure in their daily lives, particularly at their work 41 – 43 . This upsurge was reported in some studies conducted worldwide 44 , 45 . Similar to other countries, Lebanon experienced many challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on its healthcare system which was already in a fragile state even before the pandemic 46 , the economic collapse 47 , and the Beirut blasting 48 .…”

“…For example, a study reported that 45.8% of US physicians had experienced burnout 29 . Another study conducted among Austrian physicians showed a substantial increase of 30% in burnout rates during the pandemic compared to other studies conducted before the COVID-19 outbreak 7 , 8 , 45 .…”

Explaining and addressing the limitations in usefulness of available estimated prevalence figures relating to burnout in family doctors: Evidence from a systematic scoping literature review

“…By 2019, burnout in FDs had already been reported as worryingly common worldwide (Kay, 2012;Kings Fund, 2016;Shanafelt et al, 2019), in what was described as a "global crisis" for all doctors (Lancet editorial, 2019, p.93). Covid-19 struck later that year, and the challenges brought by being on the pandemic frontline have added greatly to the already high demands on the medical profession (Amanullah and Shankar, 2020;Kurzthaler et al, 2021). The mental health of FDs has been affected for the worse (Lasalvia et al, 2022), with concerns (Best, 2021;Iacobucci, 2021) and research evidence (Lum et al, 2021;Seda-Gombau et al, 2021) that FD burnout is becoming an even greater problem.…”

Reliability and validity support for an abbreviated Copenhagen burnout inventory using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis

“… 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 The CBI has been applied extensively to physicians. 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 Despite widespread international use in measuring burnout among physicians, the CBI has been used infrequently to measure burnout among emergency physicians in the United States. 37 , 38 …”

“…The CBI has been used to assess varied types of health care personnel in several countries, amassing substantial validity evidence 13–16 . The CBI has been applied extensively to physicians 17–36 . Despite widespread international use in measuring burnout among physicians, the CBI has been used infrequently to measure burnout among emergency physicians in the United States 37–38 …”