Prevalence and Risk Factors of Burnout among Healthcare Professionals during COVID-19 Pandemic - Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: study the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the prevalence of burnout and the associated factors among health care workers in Saudi Arabia. Methodology: This study targeted all categories of health care workers (HCWs) in Saudi Arabia. The data were collected through an online questionnaire that included: sociodemographic data, medical history, smoking history, work characteristics, direct care of infected patients, questions of Maslach Burnout inventory (MBI) to assess burnout among health care workers that assess the Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalization (DP), and Personal Achievement (PA). The collected data was analyzed through SPSS program version 25. Results: The total number of the participants in this study was 3,557. The results showed that 38.5% of the participants scored high for EE, 31.2% for DP, and 33.6% for PA. On analysis, being younger than the age of 40 years, female, or Saudi nationality tended to be associated with increased all burnout parameters. Shift work, on call duties, changing working hours, direct involvement in management of COVID-19 patients were associated with high burnout scores. Conclusion: High burnout is common among healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia during COVID-19 pandemic due to direct contact with infected cases and changes in the working patterns during the pandemic, etc. These factors should be discussed to find solutions to relieve the health care workers from excess stress and burnout.