Burnout Prevalence and its Associated Factors among Healthcare Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global health threat and has placed an extraordinary demand on healthcare workers around the world. More than half of healthcare workers in this phase experienced burnout. The main causes of personal, professional, and patient-related burnout were found to be direct participation in COVID-19 screening or treatment, having a medical condition, and less psychological support at work. Burnout was cited by healthcare employees as being caused by their workloads, the pandemic's uncertainties, difficult work-family balance, and strained working relationships. Burnout syndrome is more directly serving the people working in professions that are seen in important of human relationships. Nursing is one of the human service professions and is specifically vital in the medical and mental health care delivery. In the health professional heavy workload and non-compliance among persons are important risk factors for burnout. Exhaustion appeared to be the major symptom, and many participants utilized problem-focused coping to deal with the adversities experienced during the pandemic. Health workers reported physical, occupational, psychological, and social-related negative impacts resulting from burnout. Burnout is generally associated with higher rates of illness, increased use of alcohol and drugs, lower career satisfaction, high “staff turnover” but also reduced the quality of service, resulting in the poor patient outcome. As the pandemic trajectory is yet unknown, these findings provide early insight and guidance for possible interventions.