Relationship between Burnout Syndrome and Personality Characteristics in Emergency Ambulance Crew

The Global Prevalence and Associated Factors of Burnout among Emergency Department Healthcare Workers and the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND/AIM

Emergency medicine (EM) settings are very stressful, given the high workload, intense working environment, and prolonged working time. In turn, the rate of burnout and its three domains have been increasingly reported among healthcare workers (HCWs). Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to determine the prevalence and risk factors of burnout among EM HCWs.

METHODS

Six databases were searched in February 2023, yielding 29 articles (16,619 EM HCWs) reporting burnout or its three domains (emotional exhaustion "EE", depersonalization "DP", and personal accomplishment "PA"). The primary outcome was the prevalence of burnout and its domains, while secondary outcomes included the risk factors of high burnout, EE, DP, or low PA. Burnout rates were pooled across studies using STATA software. The prevalence was measured using the pooled effect size (ES), and the random-effects model was used when heterogeneity was encountered; otherwise, the fixed-effects model was used.

RESULTS

The prevalence of overall burnout was high (43%), with 35% of EM HCWs having a high risk of burnout. Meanwhile, 39%, 43%, and 36% of EM workers reported having high levels of EE and DP and low levels of PA, respectively. Country-specific changes in the rate of burnout were observed. The rate of high burnout, high EE, high DP, and low PA was higher during the COVID-19 pandemic as compared to the pre-pandemic period. The type of profession (nurses, physicians, residents, etc.) played a significant role in modifying the rate of burnout and its domains. However, gender was not a significant determinant of high burnout or its domains among EM workers.

CONCLUSIONS

Burnout is a prevalent problem in emergency medicine practice, affecting all workers. As residents progress through their training years, their likelihood of experiencing burnout intensifies. Nurses are most affected by this problem, followed by physicians. Country-associated differences in burnout and its domains are evident.

Exploring the Mental Health Challenges of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Professionals: A Comprehensive Review and Meta-Analysis

Burnout and depression are global problems affecting healthcare providers, especially those working in stressful departments such as emergency departments (EDs) and critical care units (CCUs). However, pooled data analysis comparing healthcare providers operating in the ED and CCU is yet to be conducted. Therefore, this meta-analysis was systematically conducted to investigate and compare the prevalence of burnout and depression among emergency medicine (EM) and critical care medicine (CCM) professionals. We systematically searched for articles related to our research topic using the database search method and manual search method, which involved reviewing the reference lists of articles from electronic databases for additional studies. After screening the literature from the databases using the eligibility criteria, a quality appraisal using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale was performed on the eligible studies. In addition, a meta-analysis using the Review Manager software was performed to investigate the prevalence rates of burnout and depression. A total of 10 studies with 1,353 EM and 1,250 CCM professionals were included for analysis in the present study. The pooled analysis did not establish any considerable differences between EM and CCM healthcare workers on the prevalence of high emotional exhaustion (EE) (odds ratio (OR) = 1.01; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.46-2.19; p = 0.98), high depersonalization (OR = 1.16; 95% CI = 0.61-2.21; p = 0.64), low personal accomplishment (PA) (OR = 0.87; 95% CI = 0.67 - 1.12; p = 0.28), and depression (OR = 1.20; 95% CI = 0.74-1.95; p = 0.45). Moreover, pooled data showed no considerable differences in EE scores (mean difference (MD) = -1.07; 95% CI = -4.24-2.09; p = 0.51) and depersonalization scores (MD = -0.31; 95% CI = -1.35-0.73; p = 0.56). However, EM healthcare workers seemed to have considerably lower PA scores than their CCM counterparts (MD = 0.12; 95% CI = 0.08-0.16; p < 0.00001). No considerable difference was recorded in the prevalence of burnout and depression between EM and CCM healthcare workers. However, our findings suggest that EM professionals have lower PA scores than CCM professionals; therefore, more attention should be paid to the mental health of EM professionals to improve their PA.

Big five model personality traits and job burnout: a systematic literature review

BACKGROUND

Job burnout negatively contributes to individual well-being, enhancing public health costs due to turnover, absenteeism, and reduced job performance. Personality traits mainly explain why workers differ in experiencing burnout under the same stressful work conditions. The current systematic review was conducted with the PRISMA method and focused on the five-factor model to explain workers' burnout risk.

METHODS

The databases used were Scopus, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and PsycINFO. Keywords used were: "Burnout," "Job burnout," "Work burnout," "Personality," and "Personality traits".

RESULTS

The initial search identified 3320 papers, from which double and non-focused studies were excluded. From the 207 full texts reviewed, the studies included in this review were 83 papers. The findings show that higher levels of neuroticism (r from 0.10** to 0.642***; β from 0.16** to 0.587***) and lower agreeableness (r from - 0.12* to - 0.353***; β from - 0.08*** to - 0.523*), conscientiousness (r from -0.12* to -0.355***; β from - 0.09*** to - 0.300*), extraversion (r from - 0.034** to - 0.33***; β from - 0.06*** to - 0.31***), and openness (r from - 0.18*** to - 0.237**; β from - 0.092* to - 0.45*) are associated with higher levels of burnout.

CONCLUSIONS

The present review highlighted the relationship between personality traits and job burnout. Results showed that personality traits were closely related to workers' burnout risk. There is still much to explore and how future research on job burnout should account for the personality factors.

Profiling health professionals' personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Non-cognitive traits have been theorised to predict characteristics, career choice and outcomes of health professionals and could represent a homogenous group. This study aims to profile and compare personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence of health practitioners across a variety of professions.

METHODS

Empirical literature was systematically reviewed. A two-concept search strategy was applied to four databases (CINAHL, PubMed, Embase, ProQuest). Title/abstract and full text articles were screened against inclusion and exclusion criteria. Methodological quality was assessed using Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Data was synthesised narratively and meta-aggregated where feasible.

RESULTS

Three hundred twenty-one studies representing 153 assessment tools of personality (n = 83 studies), behaviour (n = 8), and emotional intelligence (n = 62) were included. Most studies (n = 171) explored personality (medicine, nursing, nursing assistants, dentistry, allied health, paramedics), revealing variation in traits across professions. Behaviour styles were least measured with only ten studies exploring these across four health professions (nursing, medicine, occupational therapy, psychology). Emotional intelligence (n = 146 studies) varied amongst professions (medicine, nursing, dentistry, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, radiology) with all exhibiting average to above-average scores.

CONCLUSION

Personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence are all key characteristics of health professionals reported in the literature. There is both heterogeneity and homogeneity within and between professional groups. The characterisation and understanding of these non-cognitive traits will aid health professionals to understand their own non-cognitive features and how these might be useful in predicting performance with potential to adapt these to enhance success within their chosen profession.

[The Role of Personal Resources in Coping]

BACKGROUND

Stress reactions can be a result of occupational and everyday stress, which are perceived individually. The insufficient compensation of stress can lead to various diseases. Personality traits play an important role in this. Stress reactions can lead to health problems and diseases. Therefore it is important to reduce stress. The aim of this study was to examine the role of personality traits in dealing with stress perception and coping.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

The questionnaire on Differential stress inventory (DSI) differentiated 217 subjects into 5 types of DSI. The survey compared these 5 types along their personality traits via the Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI-R).

RESULTS

The DSI types showed significant differences in the expression of the personality traits. This applies the everyday stress, professional and private interactions with other people and the existential and future fears. People with pronounced physical disorders in the FPI showed physical and/or emotional-cognitive stress manifestation as well as a sense of helplessness. Life satisfaction is negatively related to stressors, for example through everyday life.

CONCLUSION

The survey revealed the importance of personality traits in coping with job strain. Occupational health diagnostics should be integrated in occupational health care and prevention. The occupational physician or the prevention team appear here to be significant, as they see workers falling through the classic family doctor model. In the prevention team, personality traits can be supplemented by psychologists. Personal resources can be imparted or reinforced to prevent physical disorders.

Burnout in emergency medicine physicians: A meta-analysis and systematic review

BACKGROUND

Physician burnout has been a global problem that affects severely the mental status among doctors, especially in emergency medicine (EM). However, few studies have focused on emergency medicine physicians, and the published data are inconsistent. Thus, this meta-analysis is performed to systematically evaluate the prevalence of burnout among emergency medicine physicians.

METHODS

We systematically searched databases including PubMed, Embase, PsychINFO and the Cochrane Library from inception to September, 2019 for English-language articles. We selected all the original articles those used Maslach Burnout Inventory to assess the prevalence of burnout and its 3 dimensions emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization, and personal accomplishment (PA) in emergency medicine physicians. After literature screening, quality evaluation was performed for eligible studies by using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal checklist for studies reporting prevalence data; then, Begg test and Egger test was used to assess publication bias. Pooled prevalence rates were assessed by conducting a meta-analysis using random effects models. Then sensitivity analysis followed to test the stability of the result and detected the source of heterogeneity.

RESULTS

A total of 1943 EM physicians provided burnout data. The pooled prevalence rates of high levels of emotional exhaustion, high levels of depersonalization and low levels of PA were 40% (95% CI: 26%-55%; I = 97.4%), 41% (95% CI: 30%-52%; I = 94.5%) and 35% (95% CI: 19%-52%; I = 99.0%), respectively. The mean burnout scores were 23.95 (SD = 11.88) for emotional exhaustion, 11.63 (SD = 6.85) for depersonalization, and 34.69 (SD = 7.71) for PA.

CONCLUSIONS

This meta-analysis demonstrate a high level of burnout prevalent in EM physicians that approximately 40% experience high levels of EE and depersonalization. Our findings also suggest that EM physicians are more susceptible to burnout compared with physicians in other departments and other medical staffs in EM. More attention should be payed to mental status of EM physicians and further investigation concerning how to reduce burnout would be beneficial for EM physicians.Registration: INPLASY202060060 in inplasy.com (doi.org/10.37766/inplasy2020.6.0060).