Public Health Workforce Burnout in the COVID-19 Response in the U.S.

Abstract

While the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on frontline health care workers have been well described, the effects of the COVID-19 response on the U.S. public health workforce, which has been impacted by the prolonged public health response to the pandemic, has not been adequately characterized. A cross-sectional survey of public health professionals was conducted to assess mental and physical health, risk and protective factors for burnout, and short- and long-term career decisions during the pandemic response. The survey was completed online using the Qualtrics survey platform. Descriptive statistics and prevalence ratios (95% confidence intervals) were calculated. Among responses received from 23 August and 11 September 2020, 66.2% of public health workers reported burnout. Those with more work experience (1–4 vs. <1 years: prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.08−3.36; 5–9 vs. <1 years: PR = 1.89, CI = 1.07−3.34) or working in academic settings (vs. practice: PR = 1.31, CI = 1.08–1.58) were most likely to report burnout. As of September 2020, 23.6% fewer respondents planned to remain in the U.S. public health workforce for three or more years compared to their retrospectively reported January 2020 plans. A large-scale public health emergency response places unsustainable burdens on an already underfunded and understaffed public health workforce. Pandemic-related burnout threatens the U.S. public health workforce’s future when many challenges related to the ongoing COVID-19 response remain unaddressed.

The Prevalence and Work-Related Factors of Burnout Among Public Health Workforce During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…This is comparable to the findings published by Roslan, Yusoff 19 and Apaydin, Rose, 38 who reported that 50% of Malaysian HCW and 43% of American HCW working in similar settings experienced burnout respectively. In contrast, Lu, Zhang, 18 Baptista, Teixeira, 39 and Stone, Kintziger 40 reported a higher prevalence of burnout among Chinese public health providers (58%), Portuguese primary care physicians (69%), and American public health workforce (66%) respectively. While the variation in prevalence may partly reflect the differences in COVID-19 burden in different regions and pandemic wave, a systematic review on burnout among physicians have indicated that the variability in prevalence estimates of burnout may also be attributed to variation in burnout definitions and assessment methods.…”

Who Cares What the Doctor Feels: The Responsibility of Health Politics for Burnout in the Pandemic

“…It, therefore, becomes part of the mission of health politics to see that health-care organizations take responsibility for burnout prevention. All affected agencies must work to understand and address burnout syndrome both preventively and remedially [16]. It would be especially important to have a consensus between the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the WHO as the main health authorities.…”

The impact of the COVID-19 response on the provision of other public health services in the U.S.: A cross sectional study

“…We conducted a cross-sectional survey of individuals working in public health during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic response. The survey assessed the public health workforce across a variety of domains such as professional experience (i.e., training, years of experience, content expertise, job functions), mental and physical health status (i.e., generalized anxiety, depression, burnout), and career plans (i.e., pre-pandemic vs. current career plans) [ 17 ] (See Supporting Information ). We pilot tested the survey for clarity and content with a group of epidemiologists working in a large, local public health department and revised the survey based on this feedback.…”