Burnout in Healthcare Professionals during Covid-19 Crisis

Nasim Hajipoor  Kashgsaray; Maryam  Soleimanpour; Sina  Behmanesh; Hassan  Soleimanpour

doi:10.18502/aacc.v11i1.17484

Nasim Hajipoor Kashgsaray Emergency and Trauma Care Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Maryam Soleimanpour Clinical Research Development Unit of Tabriz Valiasr Hospital, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Sina Behmanesh Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Hassan Soleimanpour Medical Philosophy and History Research Center. Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/aacc.v11i1.17484

Keywords: Mental burnout; Nurses; Doctors; Job burnout

Abstract

Background: Since 2019, the COVID-19 disease has led to the death and disability of many people all over the world and the treatment staff has been providing services around the clock. Therefore, psychological burnout among them is highly possible. So far, no study has compared the incidence of mental burnout between doctors and nurses in the emergency department. This study has compared the psychological burnout between doctors and nurses during COVID-19 at the emergency department.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 67 doctors and nurses working in the Emergency Department of Imam Reza Hospital of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences who had been working there during the COVID-19 outbreak. The instrument of study was the standard Copenhagen psychological burnout questionnaire. After obtaining the written consent, the questionnaire was distributed among the doctors and nurses of the emergency department. The data was graded by Excel software and data analysis was conducted by SPSS V. 22 software.

Results: According to the comparison of the high burnout rate in the Copenhagen burnout scale, 50% of doctors and 57.1% of nurses had personal burnout, 56.8% of doctors and 66.7% of nurses had work-related burnout, 69.4% of doctors and 69% of nurses had patient-related burnout, and the overall rate of high burnout in doctors was reported as 62.9% and nurses as 70.4%. There was no statistically significant difference in personal burnout between emergency department physicians and nurses.

(P= 0.347). As well, there was not a significant statistical difference in terms of work-related, patient-related, and overall burnouts between the two groups (P= 0.066), (P= 0.696), and (P= 0.108). Yet, Regarding the distribution of genders between the two groups, there was a statistically significant difference (P= 0.001).

Conclusion: The level of mental burnout of doctors and nurses employed in the Emergency Department of Imam Reza General Hospital during the COVID-19 crisis was at an average high. Thus, improving the conditions of medical environments in health centers can reduce the burnout of working doctors and nurses, especially during epidemic conditions, which will increase the quality of medical services.