Abstract
Nurses working in palliative care are at risk of burnout. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory was used to determine burnout levels of nurses working in the Portuguese national network of palliative care. We evaluated the contribution of personal, work, and COVID-19 variables in three burnout subclasses: personal, work, and patient-related. A cross-sectional, exploratory, and quantitative design was employed and participants were sampled using convenience and snowball technique. An online survey was conducted and 153 nurses participated in our study. Socio-demographic characterization was conducted, levels of burnout and determinants were explored through multiple linear regression models for its three dimensions. High levels of personal, working, and patient burnout were present in 71 (46%), 68 (44%), and 33 nurses (22%), respectively. Most of them agreed that COVID-19 had an impact on their activities. Significant personal and work related burnout factors found were specialization in palliative care, self-perceived health status, unit type, weekly hours of work, and allocation to COVID-19 units. Gender was found to be a significant factor in patient-related burnout. There is a high level of burnout among nurses working in the Portuguese national network of palliative care. Measures for identification and mitigation of burnout are necessary to protect health care professionals.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), average life expectancy has been increasing successively and gradually around the world [1]
During the period of data collection, 153 nurses working in National Network of Palliative Care (NNPC) in Portugal participated in our study
A majority of the nurses (n = 135, 88.2%) believed that their clinical activity in palliative care (PC) was affected by COVID-19, and the vast majority were not allocated to other clinical functions in COVID-19 units (n = 131, 85.6%)
Summary
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), average life expectancy has been increasing successively and gradually around the world [1]. An increase in average life expectancy is associated with a decrease in mortality in the older population [1]. The real impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is not yet known. It is responsible for accentuating the discrepancies in access and availability to health care [2]. Due to the gradual aging of the worldwide population, different health systems are confronted with both new problems as well as the need to offer new solutions for this growing parcel of the population [3]. Along with the gradual aging of the population, an increasing number of pathologies and clinical situations requiring palliative care (PC) support are prevalent
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