Comparison of Factors Associated with Physician and Nurse Burnout

Burnout and Satisfaction with Work-Life Balance among General Practitioners in Bulgaria during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The objective of the present study is to analyze the link between the degree of professional burnout among general practitioners in Bulgaria during a pandemic and their satisfaction with the balance between their personal lives and professional lives. A cross-sectional study was conducted during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic from December 2021 to January 2022 among 377 general practitioners. We identified the presence and level of burnout syndrome among GPs using V. Boyko's method for diagnostics of the severity of symptoms and the phases of formation and completion of the 'occupational burnout' process. Descriptive statistics and parametric and non-parametric tests were used for the analysis. For the significance level of the null hypothesis, we assumed that p < 0.05 at a 95% confidence interval. A total of 96.3% of the GPs had a high level of burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. They worked more than 8 h a day (74.8%) and more than 5 days a week (69.0%). A total of 86.3% of them were not satisfied with the spare time they had and stated that they could not balance their work and personal lives (67.1%) since the pandemic was announced. A link was found between the level of professional burnout and long working hours (p = 0.022), dissatisfaction with free time (p = 0.028), and the inability to balance work and personal life (p = 0.000), as well as concerns related to safety during the pandemic (p = 0.048). Unrealistically high levels of burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a disturbed work-life balance is a reason to re-evaluate health policies and involve more hospital care doctors at the frontlines to fight against severe infectious diseases. The results of this study could be used to inform policy makers, healthcare managers, and other stakeholders about the factors that have had profound impacts on GPs' stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mental health disparities between physicians and nurses: Analyzing the impact of occupational stress and work environment fitness using random forest algorithm

BACKGROUND

The impact of occupational stress and work environment fitness on mental health disparities between physicians and nurses are not well understood. This study aims to identify and rank key determinants of mental health in physicians and nurses in China and compare the differences in their impact on mental health between physicians and nurses.

METHODS

A large cross-sectional survey with multistage cluster sampling was conducted. The survey included the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS Scale), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D Scale), the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) and the Person-Environment (PE) Fit. We applied a principled, machine learning-based variable selection algorithm, using random forests, to identify and rank the determinants of the mental health in physicians and nurses.

RESULTS

In our study, we analyzed a sample of 9964 healthcare workers, and 2729 (27 %) were physicians. The prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders among physicians and nurses was 31.0 % and 53.3 %, 30.8 % and 47.9 %, respectively. Among physicians with anxiety disorder, we observed a higher likelihood of cynicism, emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment, and poor organization fitness, job fitness, group fitness, and supervisor fitness, in order of importance. When comparing the effects on depressive disorder in physicians, group fitness and supervisor fitness did not have significant impacts. For nurses, emotional exhaustion had a more significant effect on depressive disorder compared to cynicism. Supervisor fitness did not have a significant impact on anxiety disorder in nurses.

LIMITATIONS

Cross-sectional design, self-reporting screening scales.

CONCLUSIONS

Compared to individual and hospital characteristics, the primary factors influencing mental health disorders are occupational burnout and the compatibility of the work environment. Additionally, the key determinants of depressive and anxiety disorders among doctors and nurses exhibit slight variations. Employing machine learning methods proves beneficial for identifying determinants of mental health disorders among physicians and nurses in China. These findings could help improve policymaking aimed at addressing the mental well-being of healthcare professionals.

Personality Traits, Burnout, and Psychopathology in Healthcare Professionals in Intensive Care Units-A Moderated Analysis

This study explored the associations between personality dimensions, burnout, and psychopathology in healthcare professionals in intensive care units (ICUs). This study further aimed to discern the differences in these relationships when considering the variables of critical care experience (less than 5 years, 5-10 years, and more than 10 years), profession (nurses versus intensivists), and the urban size of the city where the ICU is located (metropolitan cities versus smaller urban cities). This cross-sectional investigation's outcomes are based on data from 503 ICU personnel, including 155 intensivists and 348 nurses, in 31 ICU departments in Greece. Participants underwent a comprehensive assessment involving a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). To analyze the interplay among critical care experience, burnout status, and psychopathology, a moderation analysis was conducted with personality dimensions (i.e., psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism) serving as the mediator variable. Profession and the urban size of the ICU location were considered as moderators influencing these relationships. Male healthcare professionals showed higher psychoticism levels than females, aligning with prior research. Experienced nurses reported lower personal achievement, hinting at potential motivation challenges for professional growth. Psychoticism predicted high depersonalization and low personal achievement. Neuroticism and psychoticism negatively impacted ICU personnel's mental well-being, reflected in elevated psychopathology scores and burnout status. Psychoticism appears to be the primary factor influencing burnout among the three personality dimensions, particularly affecting intensivists. In contrast, nurses are more influenced by their critical care experience on their mental health status.

Alexithymia, Burnout, and Hopelessness in a Large Sample of Healthcare Workers during the Third Wave of COVID-19 in Italy

In the present study, we aimed to assess the frequency of and the relationships between alexithymia, burnout, and hopelessness in a large sample of healthcare workers (HCWs) during the third wave of COVID-19 in Italy. Alexithymia was evaluated by the Italian version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and its subscales Difficulty in Identifying Feelings (DIF), Difficulty in Describing Feelings (DDF), and Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT), burnout was measured with the scales emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalisation (DP), and personal accomplishment (PA) of the Maslach Burnout Test (MBI), hopelessness was measured using the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), and irritability (IRR), depression (DEP), and anxiety (ANX) were evaluated with the Italian version of the Irritability' Depression' Anxiety Scale (IDA). This cross-sectional study recruited a sample of 1445 HCWs from a large urban healthcare facility in Italy from 1 May to 31 June 2021. The comparison between individuals that were positive (n = 214, 14.8%) or not for alexithymia (n = 1231, 85.2%), controlling for age, gender, and working seniority, revealed that positive subjects showed higher scores on BHS, EE, DP IRR, DEP, ANX, DIF, DDF, and EOT and lower on PA than the not positive ones (p < 0.001). In the linear regression model, higher working seniority as well as higher EE, IRR, DEP, ANX, and DDF scores and lower PA were associated with higher hopelessness. In conclusion, increased hopelessness was associated with higher burnout and alexithymia. Comprehensive strategies should be implemented to support HCWs' mental health and mitigate the negative consequences of alexithymia, burnout, and hopelessness.

Abandoning Blue-Collar Management: Leading Nursing Professionals Into a New Age for Practice

Leading professionals require a different set of skills from those used for most employee work groups. This article reviews the reasons why nursing professionals need different leadership capacity and what some of those changes might be.