A child who was feverish for 2 years

Psychiatric morbidity and burnout in the medical profession: an Italian study of general practitioners and hospital physicians

BACKGROUND

Burnout and psychological stress symptoms represent a major problem among health care professionals. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of and the relationship between psychiatric morbidity and burnout among a convenience sample of Italian primary care physicians (GPs) and hospital physicians (HPs).

METHOD

The sample consisted of 328 physicians (182 GPs and 146 HPs) who completed the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI).

RESULTS

The global prevalence of psychiatric morbidity was 22.3% (20.3% among GPs and 24.6% among HPs). Symptoms of emotional exhaustion were reported by 27.5% of the participants (GPs: 32.4%; HPs: 21.2%), depersonalization by 25.6% (GPs: 27.4%; HPs: 22.6%) and low personal accomplishment by 12.8% (GPs: 13.1%; HPs: 12.3%). No significant difference was found between the two groups, except higher levels of emotional exhaustion among GPs. Female GPs reported lower scores on MBI depersonalization and female HPs lower scores MBI personal accomplishment than male GPs and HPs, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The study underscores the significant problem of stress among physicians and indicates the need for supporting health professionals in order to improve their psychological well-being and, possibly, the quality of their relationship with the patients.

Feelings of professional fulfilment and exhaustion in mental health personnel: the importance of organisational and individual factors

BACKGROUND

Mental health personnel are at high risk for mental illness, burnout and suicide. Previous studies of this group of professionals have indicated the importance of organisational factors in explaining burnout, or exhaustion, and work satisfaction. This study looks more systematically at the contribution of organisational and individual factors to work-related exhaustion and to professional fulfillment, an expanded version of job satisfaction.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study of 1, 051 psychiatrists and mental health nurses in the city of Stockholm was carried out by postal questionnaire with a previously validated instrument. Multiple and logistic regressions were used to identify predictors of exhaustion and professional fulfillment.

RESULTS

Organisational characteristics were found to be more important than individual characteristics in predicting exhaustion and professional fulfillment in mental health professionals.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that the psychosocial work environment and well-being of mental health professionals can be improved by concentrating on organisational factors such as efficiency, personal development and goal quality.