Professional Burnout Research Articles

Workplace support for physicians during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Did it affect burnout?

BackgroundA concern before 2020, physician burnout worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little empirical data are available on pandemic workplace support interventions or their influence on burnout. We surveyed a national sample of frontline physicians on burnout and workplace support during the pandemic.MethodsWe surveyed a stratified random sample of 12,833 US physicians most likely to care for adult COVID-19 patients from the comprehensive AMA Physician Professional Data ™ file. The sample included 6722 primary care physicians (3331 family physicians, 3391 internists), 880 hospitalists, 1783 critical care physicians (894 critical care physicians, 889 pulmonary intensivists), 2548 emergency medicine physicians, and 900 infectious disease physicians. The emailed survey elicited physicians’ perceptions of organizational interventions to provide workplace support and/or to address burnout. Burnout was assessed with the Professional Fulfillment Index Burnout Composite scale (PFI-BC). Proportional specialty representation and response bias were addressed by survey weighting. Logistic regression assessed the association of physician characteristics and workplace interventions with burnout.ResultsAfter weighting, respondents were representative of the total sample. Overall physician burnout was 45.4%, significantly higher than in our previous survey. Open-ended responses mentioned that staffing shortages (physician, nursing, and other staff) combined with the increased volume, complexity, and acuity of patients during the pandemic increased job demands. The most frequent workplace support interventions were direct pandemic control measures (increased access to personal protective equipment, 70.0%); improved telehealth functionality (43.4%); and individual resiliency tools (yoga, meditation, 30.7%). Respondents placed highest priority on workplace interventions to increase financial support and increase nursing and clinician staffing. Factors significantly associated with lower odds of burnout were practicing critical care (compared with emergency medicine) OR 0.33 (95% CI 0.12 – 0.93), improved telehealth functionality OR 0.47 (95% CI 0.23 – 0.97) and being in practice for 11 years or longer OR 0.44 (95% CI 0.19–0.99).ConclusionsBurnout across frontline specialties increased during the pandemic. Physician respondents focused on inadequate staffing in the context of caring for more and sicker patients, combined with the lack of administrative efforts to mitigate problems. Burnout mitigation requires system-level interventions beyond individual-focused stress reduction programs to improve staffing, increase compensation, and build effective teams.

The Psychological Health and Professional Well-being of Operators Working with Forced Migrants in Italy: A Cross-sectional Epidemiological Study

Abstract: Although the related dimensions of professional quality of life, secondary traumatic stress, and emotion regulation have been widely investigated in the field of helping and healthcare professionals, these dimensions combined have scarcely been explored in the field of workers with forced migrants. The aims of the present study are twofold. First, it aims to investigate the prevalence of secondary traumatic stress levels, emotion regulation, burnout, and compassion satisfaction in professionals working with forced migrants in Italy. Second, it aims to explore the associations between some socio-demographic and work-related characteristics and the psychological health and professional well-being status of professionals. An online survey was administered via Google Modules to the Italian associations and Third Sector entities working in the field of forced migration from May 2021 to March 2022. A total of 264 professionals (mean age: 39.9; 76.1% females) responded to the survey. On the background of good levels of psychological health and professional well-being, significant differences emerged in mental health status and professional quality of life related to professional roles, age, gender, and geographic provenience. Understanding the psychological health and professional well-being of those working with asylum seekers and refugees is crucial in providing appropriate supportive healthcare interventions which might be able to take care of professionals’ well-being as well as of their beneficiaries themselves.

The Mediating Role of Professional Burnout in the Relationship between Life Satisfaction, Teacher Self-Efficacy and Job Satisfaction of Teachers Working in Inclusive Classrooms

The Mediating Role of Professional Burnout in the Relationship between Life Satisfaction, Teacher Self-Efficacy and Job Satisfaction of Teachers Working in Inclusive Classrooms

Personnel motivation in the sphere of business management

Introduction. The paper deals with the peculiarities of personnel motivation in the field of business management that organization and use of values management help to strengthen the value of staff identity and is focused on the formation of the value system in the company as a whole. The purpose of the paper is to study of the personnel motivation system in the field of business management. Results. The result of the study is the generalization and systematization of the concepts of management of value staff. According to the results of the study, dominant trends in the organizational behavior of employees were revealed, depending on their level and tendency to changes in work. Increasing labor productivity and efficiency can be achieved by using your own potential through a motivational mechanism and makes work interesting. The peculiarities of changes in the work used by employees in organizations do not allow them to reduce the stress of working with people, which inevitably leads to psycho-emotional burnout. The methods used allow to provide the risks of professional burnout, the dismissal of the employee and the reduction of qualitative indicators, as well as to determine the dominant strategy of rethinking their organizational behavior. Conclusion. Value management integrates economic (labor efficiency) and psychological (involvement, relationships, satisfaction from work). It is an integral part of a developed organizational culture and becomes available only at a certain stage of the company's life cycle. The management of values based on a resource approach allows the leader to improve the economic indicators of the organization at the expense of personal resources of employees (through their involvement, identification of personal values with values of the organization) without the use of additional financial incentives and penalties.

Assessment Norms Development of the Subjective Work Environment Battery “B-SWE” for Chilean Organizations

The objective of this research was to generate evaluation norms for the scores of the Subjective Work Environment Battery "B-SWE" from a base of 1,413 valid response protocols of workers belonging to 11 complex organizations in the central-south region of Chile. The B-SWE seeks to identify and analyze the subjective factors of work climate, understood as the result of the interrelation of the dimensions of organizational climate and culture, professional burnout, psychosomatic symptomatology, and coping strategies in specific socio-occupational contexts, which reflect the human dimension of the productive processes of an organization. Scales were obtained according to administrative dependency (public or private) and gender. The B-SWE comprises 136 Likert-type items with a five-option scaling, presenting adequate evidence of internal structure in the Chilean context. The results showed the existence of "differentiating dimensions" according to gender and dependency of the organizations, from which centile norms are constructed for the raw scores of the 15 dimensions of the B-SWE. Once the norms were obtained, differentiated and specific interpretations were presented for each dimension. In conclusion, the workers in public organizations showed higher levels of Organizational Trust, Job Satisfaction, Reflective Action, and Personal Fulfillment. In contrast, female workers presented higher levels of Affective Seeking, Spiritual Support, and Psychosomatic Symptoms and lower levels of Affective Hardening.

Professional burnout of rural school principals as emotional intelligence indicator

Professional burnout of rural school principals as emotional intelligence indicator

Pilot study comparing sleep logs to a commercial wearable device in describing the sleep patterns of physicians-in-training.

With the increasing burden of professional burnout in physicians, attention is being paid to optimizing sleep health, starting in training. The multiple dimensions of physicians' sleep are not well described due to obstacles to easily and reliably measuring sleep. This pilot study tested the feasibility of using commercial wearable devices and completing manual sleep logs to describe sleep patterns of medical students and residents. Prospective pilot study of 50 resident physicians and medical students during a single year of training. Participants completed a manual sleep log while concurrently wearing the Fitbit Inspire device for 14-consecutive days over three clinical rotations of varying work schedules: light, medium, and heavy clinical rotations. Study completion was achieved in 24/50 (48%) participants. Overall correlation coefficients between the sleep log and Fitbit were statistically low; however, the discrepancies were acceptable, i.e., Fitbit underestimated time in bed and total sleep time by 4.3 and 2.7 minutes, respectively. Sleep onset time and waketime were within 8 minutes, with good agreement. Treatment of sleep episodes during the day led to variance in the data. Average missingness of collected data did not vary between medical students or residents or by rotation type. When comparing the light to heavy rotations, hours slept went from 7.7 (±0.64) to 6.7 (±0.88), quality-of-life and sleep health decreased and stress, burnout, and medical errors increased. Burnout was significantly associated with worse sleep health, hours worked, and quality-of-life. Prospective data collection of sleep patterns using both sleep logs and commercial wearable devices is burdensome for physicians-in-training. Using commercial wearable devices may increase study success as long as attention is paid to daytime sleep. In future studies investigating the sleep of physicians, the timing of data collection should account for rotation type.

Professional Burnout and Career Choice Regret in Urology Residents.

High rates of professional burnout and career choice regret among urology residents may increase professional dissatisfaction, shorten career longevity, and exacerbate urology workforce shortages. Understanding the prevalence of and risk factors for burnout may help develop interventions. Up to 48% of contemporary U.S. urology residents experience burnout symptoms, including up to 70% of second-year residents. Among overlapping personal, professional, institutional, and lifestyle risk factors, barriers to accessing medical and mental health care are frequently cited as an important association in residents. Limited intervention studies suggest that providing basic needs, such as on-call meals, and facilitating physical wellness and social engagement among residents may result in sustained reductions in burnout. Urology residents continue to experience high rates of burnout and career choice regret among medical specialties. Evidence-based interventions and sustainable policies that address primary risk factors are urgently needed.

Reducing patients’ rate of frequent attendance through a training intervention for physicians

BackgroundFrequent attendance is a common issue for primary care health centres. The phenomenon affects the quality of care, increases doctors’ workloads and can lead to burnout.This study presents the results of an educational intervention for primary care physicians, aimed at helping them to decrease the prevalence rate of excessive attendance by patients at their centres.MethodsA training programme was carried out for 11 primary care doctors in Barcelona who had patient lists totalling 20,064 patients. The goal of the training was to provide the participating physicians with techniques to curb frequent attendance. Additionally, the programme sought to offer them strategies to prevent professional burnout and tools to better organize their everyday medical practice. The study used a quasi-experimental design for an evaluation of an educational intervention, featuring a pre-test assessment (before the training programme) and a post-test assessment (after the training programme), as well as comparison with a control group that did not undergo the training. The study assessed the effects of the programme on the rates of frequent attendance of patients served by the participating physicians. These rates were compared with those registered by the patients seen by the control group physicians over the same period.ResultsAmong the group of physicians who received the training, the mean prevalence of patients who qualified as frequent attenders decreased from 22% prior to the training programme to 8% after completion of the programme. In other words, 14% of patients (2,809) limited the frequency of their visits to primary care physicians after their physicians had completed the training programme. Meanwhile, the study recorded an average decrease of 3.1 visits per year by the patients of the physicians who had undergone the training. Statistically significant differences between this group and the control group were observed.ConclusionsThe educational intervention proved effective at helping primary care physicians to decrease their patients’ rates of frequent attendance. It also contributes to the impact research of continuing education on doctors and their patients. We need to increase primary care spending from the current 14% to the 25%, to address this problem, among others.

Features of professional burnout of the staff of rehabilitation centers for wounded soldiers

Features of professional burnout of the staff of rehabilitation centers for wounded soldiers

Inclusive education in schools in Russia and Kazakhstan: Attitudes and well-being of teachers as related factors in the formation of an inclusive environment

Inclusivity has become the cornerstone of many government policies for the development of education in the two largest post-Soviet countries, namely Russia and Kazakhstan. In this study, we focus on teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education, taking into consideration individual and institutional factors that may promote or hinder the implementation of appropriate policies. The study was conducted in 2020 in Russia and Kazakhstan, and is based on a survey of secondary school teachers (N = 3444). The use of latent class analysis allowed us to demonstrate how exactly satisfaction with professional activity, assessment of support from colleagues and school administration, ideas about responsibility for the success of educational inclusion of different actors, professional burnout (both general and related to diversity), attitudes towards inclusive education of children with disabilities, and readiness to implement inclusive practices in professional activities are connected in the perception of teachers. Thus, the research presented in the article contributes to understanding the mechanisms and prospects for the development of educational inclusion in the post-Soviet space, taking into account the needs of teachers as key actors of inclusion, the satisfaction of which creates a stable support for the cultivation of inclusive values and practices of overcoming inequality in education.

Addressing High Nursing Turnover: Analysis of Theoretical Concepts and Case Study

The article contains a systematic review of the scientific literature on the nurse turnover problem. It is analysed from two perspectives. Firstly, the topic of employees is discussed (increased workload, inconsistency of salary with the amount of work performed, standards for the number of patients assigned to one nurse, job dissatisfaction, limited opportunities for career growth and professional development, professional burnout, unregulated rest time between shifts, etc.). Secondly, medical institution is described (shortage of medical staff leads to a decrease in patient satisfaction, loss of care quality, increased waiting time for services, review of safety and patient care protocols, reduction in the number of patients who can receive medical care or consultation, which causes a decrease in hospital revenue, hinders organisational growth, raises the cost of additional recruitment, leads to medical errors that turn into lawsuits in future, etc.). In addition to personal and financial reasons, the medical staff turnover is often caused by purely organisational imbalances (in particular, the lack of a teamwork atmosphere in the hospital, an ineffective leadership model, an imperfect and stressful working environment, poor working conditions, poor relations between doctors and nurses, etc.). The article represents mechanisms for applying provisions of a number of theories and models to address the nurse turnover problem. Among examples, there are leadership models – the contingency theory (concepts of adaptation, equivalence, effectiveness and congruence), the organisational culture theory like Hofstede’s corporate culture theory (concepts of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, male / female values, collectivism / individualism, long-term / short-term orientation, indulgence / restraint), the change management theory like the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle theory. Tenet Healthcare, Inc. was selected as a case study. One of the well-known and largest healthcare organisations in the United States, it has been experiencing significant problems with the nurse turnover since 2006, which is currently over 50% and higher than the industry average. Given the size of this organisation and its leading position in the US healthcare market, this problem poses a significant threat to the market as a whole, and Tenet Healthcare, Inc. is in immediate need of a comprehensive plan to address it.

Resilience and Stress at Professional Work: Analysis of the Research Landscape and Public Interest

Stress has a negative impact on the efficiency and productivity of employees and, accordingly, brings additional costs or losses to companies. A company’s proactive role in ensuring its employees’ resilience to stress in the workplace is crucial in creating an effective working environment and reducing staff turnover. The article analyses the scientific environment (using Descriptive bibliometric analysis and Science Mapping) and public interest (using Google Trends) in resilience and stress at professional work and in management in this area. The bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOSviewer based on publications from the Scopus database (Elsevier) without restrictions on the year of publication, country, author, language and category; the trend analysis was conducted for the period 2004‒2024 for all categories and countries, all Internet traffic was restricted to “Web searches”. The study showed a steady increase in Internet searches for the concept of “resilience training”, with peaks in 2004 and 2005 (coinciding with known terrorist attacks); interest in the query “resilience at professional work” is highest in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 12 leading countries were identified for the query “stress at professional work”. The dynamics of scientific papers in this area are described in the article by a 3rd-degree polynomial dependence equation with a determination coefficient of R² = 0.9676; a significant surge in publication activity occurred in 2014, with the number of papers increasing by 472% and an annual growth rate of 20% in 2014‒2024. The dominant subject areas of these publications are medicine (34.50%), social sciences (15.08%) and psychology (14.47%); countries are the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, and China. The article identifies scientists who are leaders of scientific thought in this area, the most developed research networks, authoritative publications and journals (based on citation analysis), the most powerful international and national institutions that have funded research in this area (among the world leaders are the US National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Defence). The article structures the scientific work in this area: 1) based on the content and contextual feature, nine thematic clusters are identified, the most significant of which is the one that studies stress at work and professional burnout from a medical point of view; 2) based on the content and chronological feature, the most significant number of works were those on the human factor and gender issues of stress and resilience published in 2017‒2018.

Взаимосвязь профессионального выгорания и ранних дезадаптивных схем у экстремальных психологов

<p style="text-align: justify;">Professional burnout is a very common syndrome that affects the well-being of people and the work of entire organizations. It is actively studied on various professional samples, especially on representatives of socionomic professions ("human-to-human"). Over the last decade, early maladaptive schemas (EMS) have been found to be associated with burnout. Despite active research, data on both burnout and EMS in extreme psychologists are lacking. The present study was conducted on this particular sample, which is intended to fill the existing gap. Thirty-six extreme psychologists participated in the study, most of the respondents worked in the emergency department or with hospice patients. The full versions of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) questionnaire adapted by N. Vodopyanova for socionomic professions, as well as J. Young’s questionnaire for early maladaptive schemes in the adaptation of P. Kasyanik and E. Romanova. Using correlation analysis, it was found that most EMS were related to burnout. After analyzing the data obtained during the empirical study, an additional hypothesis, and an alternative set of techniques to test it were proposed. The results of the study may be of practical importance for burnout prevention in psychologists of extreme profile.</p>

Технологии профилактики профессионального выгорания и поддержания ресурсного состояния персонала в первичном звене Московского здравоохранения.

Advanced technologies for maintaining the resource state of personnel form the basis of a multi-level Comprehensive Program for the Prevention and Combating of Professional Burnout among Medical Workers, developed by the Moscow Department of Health based on an analysis of the experience of global and Russian public and private healthcare organizations. This program covers all aspects of the existing problem and solves it at the system level. Its implementation helps to increase the satisfaction of medical workers with working conditions, leads to a decrease in the number of days of incapacity and dismissals, which in turn leads to an increase in the availability and quality of medical care provided to citizens, as well as an improvement in the image of primary care in Moscow healthcare, and an increase in satisfaction with social policy city from the population as a whole.

Exploring the Impact of Public Health Emergencies on Mental Well-being and Coping Mechanism of Healthcare Professionals in China

Objectives: In the state of public health emergencies, healthcare professionals worldwide work under traumatic circumstances leading to deteriorated mental well-being, psychological pressure, depression, and professional burnout. Methods: This study attempted to assess some unique constructs like fnancial impact as well as adaptation capabilities, and coping mechanisms of healthcare professionals, when they encounter public health emergencies. Using a quantitative research design, numerical data was collected online through Google doc survey participated by a sample comprising Chinese healthcare workers, identifed through purposive sampling method. Strict ethical guidelines and regulations were followed. The data was evaluated using the software SPSS and Amos 24 with advanced additional features. Results: The results disclosed an insignifcant impact of the fnancial impact on coping mechanisms and general health. The anticipation capabilities, however, made a signifcant and positive impact on their general health. The mediator adaptation capabilities acted as a full mediator on the mediating variable of fnancial impact, showing a direct relationship and also a partial mediation with anticipation capabilities association. Conclusion: These results imply that different coping styles combined with the empirically enlightened capabilities are incumbent and can collectively work to enhance the public health sector services and its employees.

Do Decision Support Tools Decrease the Prevalence of Hospital-Acquired Venous Thromboembolisms When Compared to Clinical Judgement? A Single-Center Pre-Post Study.

Introduction: Hospital-acquired venous thromboembolisms (HA-VTEs) carry a significant health burden on patients and a financial burden on hospitals due to reimbursement penalties. VTE prophylaxis at our institute was performed through utilizing an order set based on healthcare professionals' perceived level of risk. However, the use of standardized risk assessment models is recommended by multiple professional societies. Furthermore, integrating decision support tools (DST) based on the standardized risk assessment models has been shown to increase the administration of appropriate deep vein thrombosis (DVT) prophylaxis. Nonetheless, such scoring systems are not inherently flawless and their integration into EMR as a mandatory step can come at the risk of healthcare professional fatigue and burnout. We conducted a study to evaluate the incidence of HA-VTE and length of stay pre- and post implementation of a DST. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, pre-post-implementation observational study at a tertiary medical center after implementing a mandatory DST. The DST used Padua scores for medical patients and Caprini scores for surgical patients. Patients were identified through ICD-10 codes and outcomes were collected from electronic charts. Healthcare professionals were surveyed through an anonymous survey and stored securely. Statistical analysis was conducted by using R (version 3.4.3). Results: A total of 343 patients developed HA-VTE during the study period. Of these, 170 patients developed HA-VTE in the 9 months following the implementation of the DST, while 173 patients were identified in the 9 months preceding the implementation. There was no statistically significant difference in mean HA-VTE/1000 discharge/month pre- and post implementation (4.4 (SD 1.6) compared to 4.6 (SD 1.2), confidence interval [CI] -1.6 to 1.2, p = 0.8). The DST was used in 73% of all HA-VTE cases over the first 6 months of implementation. The hospital length of stay (LOS) was 14.2 (SD 1.9) days prior to implementation and 14.1 (SD 1.6) days afterwards. No statistically significant change in readmission rates was noted (8.8% (SD 2.6) prior to implementation and 15.53% (SD 9.6) afterwards, CI -14.27 to 0.74, p = 0.07). Of the 56 healthcare professionals who answered the survey, 84% (n = 47) reported to be dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied with the DST, while 91% (n = 51) reported that it slowed them down. Conclusions: There were no apparent changes in the prevalence of HA-VTE, length of stay, or readmission rates when VTE prophylaxis was mandated through DST compared to a prior model which used order sets based on perceived risk. Further studies are needed to further evaluate the current risk assessment models and improve healthcare professionals' satisfaction with DST.

ФАКТОРЫ, ВЛИЯЮЩИЕ НА ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ВЫГОРАНИЯ МЕДИЦИНСКИХ РАБОТНИКОВ И ИХ ВОЗДЕЙСТВИЕ НА КАЧЕСТВО МЕДИЦИНСКОЙ ПОМОЩИ В ТРАВМОЦЕНТРАХ ВТОРОГО УРОВНЯ

This study draws attention to the real problem of professional burnout among medical professionals, especially those providing emergency care in trauma centres. The aim of the study was to identify factors influencing emotional burnout in doctors and to develop methods for its diagnosis and prevention. The study was carried out in a level 2 trauma centre and the results showed the absence of emotional burnout syndrome in the participants at the time of the study. Correlation analysis revealed the relationship between the level of emotional burnout and individual personal characteristics of the workers. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of development of professional and personal qualities of medical specialists, as well as the need to take into account their inclinations and motivational readiness for successful work and prevention of professional burnout.

Optimisation and improvement of police officers’ special rank types

The article examines the process of reforming the law enforcement system in Ukraine, in particular the creation of the National Police in 2015, and its impact on the rank system of police officers. Special attention is paid to the main changes that occurred as a result of this reform. In particular, such positive aspects as bringing police standards closer to the European level, as well as creating a new police uniform and changing the rank system are highlighted. It is important to note that the reform is aimed at improving the efficiency of law enforcement agencies and their interaction with the public. The article also highlights the problem of the lack of additional ranks and limited career opportunities for junior police officers, which can lead to professional burnout and reduced staff motivation. An analysis of the positive experience of using the extended rank of junior and sergeant ranks in countries such as Canada, Germany, Greece, Spain, as well as the states of Virginia and Delaware in the USA is conducted. The proposed ways of solving the shortcomings in the rank system are aimed at improving the working conditions and motivation of the police personnel. In addition, it is proposed to introduce new ranks for junior and non-commissioned officers of the police in order to stimulate further self-development of professional skills and career growth prospects. In addition, each new rank will have separate duties and functions that will facilitate mutual assistance and cooperation with other police officers. It is also important to emphasise the need to update the design for cadets of higher education institutions with specific learning conditions and lyceums.

The Feasibility and Impact of an Asynchronous Interprofessional Well-Being Course on Burnout in Health Care Professionals.

Well-being initiatives are essential components in fostering an engaged workforce and creating an effective health care ecosystem. Health care professional (HCP) burnout is widespread and has worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2014, with Health Resources and Services Administration funding support, the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine created an online course for HCP well-being. It was subsequently studied in medical residents and revised in 2020. In this study, we explore the impact of the course across larger systems, as well as the long-term impact on HCPs. The Health Care Professional Well-Being course is 4.5 hours of interactive online education that explores personal well-being, promoters and detractors of well-being, and systemic factors that influence the overall impact of well-being in health care systems. Participants were recruited through institutional members of the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health and were randomized to either active or waitlist control groups. Assessments were taken pre-course, 1-month post-course, and 6-months post-course in the areas of burnout, compassion, resiliency, and lifestyle behaviors. Burnout measures of depersonalization and emotional exhaustion showed a significant improvement amongst active participants, sustained for 6 months after the course. However, no significant improvement in either the resiliency or the compassion measurements was noted for the active group. Initially, the active group showed improvement in personal accomplishment; however, both groups showed a decline overall. Most noteworthy, a large number of active participants demonstrated adoption of new health-promoting behavior; 95% incorporated at least 1 new lifestyle behavior learned from the course. This study of a brief, asynchronous, online well-being course with interprofessional HCPs, demonstrates that the course is associated with improvement in individual burnout measures and can educate HCPs about healthy behaviors and a framework for professional engagement.