Burnout in Hospital-Based Healthcare Workers during COVID-19

Abstract

Burnout is an occupational hazard in healthcare, which harms the healthcare system, patients, and healthcare workers. In the COVID-19 pandemic, burnout has increased to levels that pose a threat to maintaining a functioning healthcare workforce. Elevated burnout and other indicators of stress are anticipated to persist long after the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a cycle of understaffing alongside difficult work conditions which can drive burnout. Robust interventions to bolster individuals, improve work environments and address health system drivers of burnout are important to maintain and support hospital-based healthcare workers. Interventions need to target those most at risk and affected by burnout: nurses, intensive care unit and emergency department staff, women, recent graduates and trainees. Interventions to reduce burnout need to be implemented at organizational and structural level of healthcare systems, complemented by intervention at the individual level. Further, leadership is a vital enabler to address burnout from organizational leaders and managers as well as policymakers. Organizations need to ensure adequate staffing through ongoing evaluation of workload including mitigation of data entry and administrative burdens, efforts to reduce overtime and avoid long shifts, and staff deployment in areas where they lack training. Approaches to mitigate, reduce and address burnout should be multi-faceted and include interventions to improve workplace conditions by fostering a supportive culture, relationships and leadership, as well as individual-level interventions (e.g., education, stress reduction tools, access support for moral distress).