Sense of meaning as a predictor of burnout in emergency physicians in Israel: a national survey

Abstract

ObjectiveBurnout is common in physicians and particularly acute in emergency physicians. Physician burnout may adversely affect physicians’ lives and the quality of care they provide, but much remains unknown about its main contributing factors. The present study evaluated burnout rates and contributing factors in emergency physicians in Israel, specifically focusing on the role of a sense of meaning, which has received little attention in the literature concerning burnout in emergency physicians.MethodsA multicenter study, involving a convenience sample of physicians working full-time in the emergency departments of 16 general hospitals in Israel, was conducted. Questionnaires were used to assess burnout, demographic characteristics, professional stress, emotional distress, satisfaction, and quality of professional life, and open-ended questions were used to evaluate subjective perception of job satisfaction.ResultsSeventy physicians completed the questionnaires; 71.4% reported significant burnout levels in at least one of the burnout measures, while 82% also reported medium or high levels of competency. Burnout levels were associated with work-life balance, work satisfaction, social support, depressive symptoms, stress, and preoccupying thoughts. Regression analysis yielded two significant factors associated with burnout: worry and a sense of existential meaning derived from work. In addition, 61%, 51%, and 17% of participants exhibited high emotional exhaustion, high depersonalization, and a low sense of personal accomplishment, respectively.ConclusionThese results indicate a high burnout rate in emergency physicians in Israel and highlight relevant positive and negative factors including the importance of addressing existential meaning in designing specific intervention programs to counter burnout.

A Multicenter Study into Burnout, Perceived Stress, Job Satisfaction, Coping Strategies, and General Health among Emergency Department Nursing Staff

“…Furthermore, no relationship was found between smoking and the dimensions of burnout. This result is similar to that obtained in ED physicians [84]. DP, in the multivariate analysis, was determined by the absence of daily physical exercise.…”

Empathy and burnout of emergency professionals of a health region

“…Those with higher levels of burnout have lower levels of empathy. Previous studies have analyzed either empathy [ 6 – 9 ] or burnout [ 11 , 12 , 14 , 15 ] among emergency professionals. The relationship between empathy and well-being has been studied, although only in medical students, [ 13 ] certain groups of professionals, such as physicians of different specialities, [ 24 ] emergency nurses, [ 6 ] or in primary care.…”

“…[ 11 ] Another work published in 2015 described that urgent care services could lead to burnout among their professionals. [ 12 ] Up to now, burnout levels have been reported in medical students, residents, nursing staff, health technicians, and prehospital care professionals. [ 13 – 15 ]…”

Workplace wellbeing in an urban emergency department in Aotearoa New Zealand

“…In EM literature, at conferences, in social media (e.g. Wrap EM – https://wrapem.org/) and in the popular press, there is increasing attention being paid to worker wellbeing, although the concept and importance in healthcare has long been understood.…”

“…We were also encouraged by the high sense of meaning in work in our study (80%). Meaningful work is considered fundamental to achieving joy in work, as illustrated by a study of Israeli emergency physicians …”