THE EVALUATION OF BURNOUT AND COMMUNICATİON SKILLS IN PRIMARY CARE STAFF

Abstract

Objective: Burnout syndrome is an important problem among health professionals. The aim of the study is to evaluate the relationship between the burnout status and communication skills in primary care staff. Methods: The study was conducted in the cross-sectional type between April and June 2019. The population of the study comprised of physicians and family health professionals working in primary care unit. The participants were administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory, certain questions concerning sociodemographic characteristics, and the communication skills evaluation scale. Results: In total, 383 individuals working in the primary care unit participated in the study. The mean age was 43 ± 8,1 and among them, 64.8% were women. The scores of the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization of physicians were significantly higher compared to nurses. While the depersonalization score of women was significantly lower than men, the sense of personal accomplishment score was higher than men. As the number of daily clinic visits of the physicians increased, the rate of their emotional exhaustion and depersonalization increased. While the communication skills decreased as the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization increased, the communication skills level increased as the sense of personal accomplishment increased. Women, nurses, the widowed/the divorced women, and age group were determined to have better communication skills. Conclusion: A significant relation was determined between burnout subscales and increased number of daily average clinic visits of physicians, gender and occupational groups. There was a significant relationship between communication skill levels and burnout subscales concerning occupational groups, gender, marital status and age groups.