Prevalence of signs of professional burnout among medical workers involved in providing medical care for CSD

BACKGROUND: Among 13 thousand doctors interviewed in 2021, 42% displayed signs of professional burnout. This phenomenon negatively affects the frequency of repeated hospitalizations, the number of adverse events, and increased employee turnover. However, studies concerning burnout in doctors are rare and do not focus on specialists who provide medical care for patients with circulatory system diseases (CSD).

AIMS: was to assess the level of burnout in medical workers involved in the provision of medical care for patients with CSD and to propose measures for its prevention.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A sociological survey (based on the standardized Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire) was conducted among medical personnel. The sample is represented by doctors – 89 respondents, and nursing staff and auxillary nurses (NSAN) – 128 respondents. 

RESULTS: 80.2% of respondents presented with a high level of reduced professional accomplishments (RPA), 53.4% – a moderate average level of depersonalization. The emotional exhaustion was similar in all respondents, although average level of emotional exhaustion was the most prevalent (39.6%). 43.8% of doctors had an average level of emotional exhaustion (EE), which is higher compared with NSAN – 37.5%. Regarding the level of depersonalization, all employees showed similar results, with a slight predominance of low (+0.1%) and medium (+0.7%) levels in doctors, and high (+ 0.8%) levels in NSAN. A high level of RPA was typical for the majority of doctors (82%) and NSAN (78%). According to the majority of respondents, the emotional burnout prevention program should be based on measures that ensure a rational distribution of workload and responsibilities within structural units (doctors – 78.4%, NSAN – 82.7%), whereas only 14.7% of doctors and 19.6% of NSAN would prefer training program, coaching sessions, etc.

CONCLUSIONS: Working as medical staff and providing medical care for patients with CSD is strongly associated with a high level of reduced professional accomplishments (80.2% of respondents). Proper measures for the prevention of emotional burnout should primarily include organizational solutions focused on optimizing internal processes in medical staff` work.