Impact of COVID-19 on Health Care Workers - Burnout Scenario in This Pandemic

Abstract

Coronavirus epidemic 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic and has already ceased millions of peoples lives all over the world, Till today while we are entering 2022 but still struggling with new strains, people who don’t want to follow guidelines and/or get vaccination, this situation become extreme out of control for healthcare workers in every country. Because the situation that its uncontrollable prevalence leads to exceed the capacity of healthcare systems and causes an extra burden on healthcare workers. Thus, this study aimed to find the impact of COVID-19 on the front line health care workers in Malaysia and to measure the burnout ratio among them using Maslach Burnout Inventory. 532 healthcare workers including physicians, nurses and other nonspecialists attended an online survey answering questionnaires on the Maslach Burnout Inventory, previous job demands and a checklist on the frequency of psychosomatic symptoms. Results indicated that the level of burnout and frequency of experienced psychosomatic symptoms are correlated to growing demand during COVID 19 pandemic situation. And, finding meaning in one’s own work is correlated to personal enjoyment. According to the findings of this study, urgent actions should be taken to minimize the burden on healthcare workers during this pandemic situation to ensure the well being and safety of their lives as well.