Clinical Variety May Help Prevent Burnout After a Decade in Palliative Care

Abstract

Abstract Background Factors that promote longevity and resilience in Palliative Care has not been well studied. Objective We studied palliative care practitioners (PCP) who were still in the profession after 10 years and looked at demographic factors and coping mechanisms which were associated with less burnout and psychological morbidity. Design This was a multi-centre, cross-sectional study of all the palliative care providers within the public healthcare sector in Singapore who worked > 10 years in palliative care. Setting / Subjects The study was conducted in hospital palliative care services, home hospice and inpatient hospices in Singapore. The participants were doctors, nurses and social workers who have worked for >10 years in palliative care. Results There were 30 palliative care practitioners who were in the profession for > 10 years. 9 (30%) fulfilled criteria for burnout and psychological morbidity and 21 (70%) did not. Clinical variety was associated with less burnout in those > 10 years in palliative care (86.4%) compared with (61.6%) for those with ≤ 10 years ( p = 0.021 ). Conclusion Having clinical variety appeared to be protective against burnout in those in the palliative care profession for >10 years.