Watch Out for Burnout in COVID-19: A Greek Health Care Personnel Study

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to examine the mental well-being of healthcare personnel (HCP) working in COVID-19 units in Greece and to calculate the prevalence of burnout (BO) amongst them. A questionnaire based on the Maslach Burnout Inventory for Medical Personnel was utilized between February 21st, 2021 and March 5th, 2021. A total of 190 HCP responded to the questionnaire, of which 73.7% were nurses and midwives. The mean age of the participants was 38.3 (8.4) years. Overall, 71.6% of the participants had a high BO score, while 20.5% had a moderate and 7.9% had a low BO score. Night shifts in COVID-19 wards and job dissatisfaction were significantly associated with a high BO score ( P = .03 and P < .0001, respectively). The majority of HCP working in COVID-19 wards in Greece is experiencing high levels of overall BO and emotional exhaustion.

The relationship between nurse burnout, missed nursing care, and care quality following COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Our findings are consistent with findings conducted in other countries showing burnout among nurses working during COVID-19, such as the USA (Sexton et al, 2022), the UK (Keith et al, 2022), Belgium (Bruyneel et al, 2021), Serbia (Jakovljevic et al, 2021), Greece (Mavrovounis et al, 2022), Turkey (Murat et al, 2020), China (Hu et al, 2020), South Korea (Jihn et al, 2021), and Japan (Nishimura et al, 2021). The prevalence of burnout among nurses in Thailand (36%) was lower than the prevalence among nurses in the USA (40.6%-49.2%) (Sexton et al, 2022), Belgium (38%) (Bruyneel et al, 2021), China (60%) (Hu et al, 2020), and Greece (63%) (Mavrovounis et al, 2022). Different levels of nurse burnout by the country during the COVID-19 pandemic may depend on geography, nursing area of work, and the period of the pandemic.…”

Factors associated with burnout among frontline nurses in the post-COVID-19 epidemic era: a multicenter cross-sectional study

“…Our research indicates that after the COVID-19 pandemic, 75.38% of nurses experienced burnout symptoms, encompassing emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal achievement. These results is consistent with a survey undertaken in China during the pandemic [ 12 ] but are notably higher than findings from other countries [ 26 – 29 ]. Several factors might account for this discrepancy: Primarily, variations in the work environment and the specific phase of the pandemic play pivotal roles in these divergent outcomes.…”

El síndrome de burnout como factor asociado al estrés laboral del personal de enfermería

“…El personal de salud aquel con mayor índice de burnout es el servicio de enfermería en donde se evidenció una mayor intención de cambiar de carrera debido a la sobrecarga de trabajo en los turnos nocturnos en donde además no se les permitía un adecuado tiempo de descanso. Menciona que estos resultados son más acentuados durante la primera y segunda ola de contagios y aunque disminuye en la tercera ola de contagios sigue siendo un porcentaje significativo al compararlo antes de la pandemia 13 .…”