Burnout and exhaustion in healthcare go well beyond physicians
A majority of studies looking at burnout and job satisfaction in healthcare tend to focus on the physicians themselves. New findings published in JAMA Network Open, however, examined these feelings—and others—among nonphysician healthcare workers such as nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and social workers.
“Burnout and declines in professional satisfaction may also place additional strains on the healthcare system trying to meet the increasing demands for medical care in the setting of workforce shortages,” wrote lead author Liselotte N. Dyrbye, MD, of the Mayo Clinic Program on Physician Well-Being, and colleagues. “Previous cross-sectional studies of physicians, nurses, and advance practice clinicians have demonstrated associations of burnout and satisfaction with intent to reduce work hours or leave their current job.”
The study’s authors examined survey responses from more than 26,000 nonphysician healthcare workers who answered questions in both October 2015 and October 2017. All participants worked at a Mayo Clinic-affiliated facility. While 77.1% of respondents were women, 27.8% were between the ages of 45 and 54 years old.
Healthcare workers included in the study were healthcare professionals (nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, paramedics, social workers, etc.), administrative office support workers, business professionals, clinical office support workers, service and support workers, and technicians and technologists.
Overall, the baseline rates of high emotional exhaustion, high depersonalization and overall burnout were 21.9%, 9.2% and 23.8%, respectively.
After controlling for certain factors, the team found that overall burnout, high emotional exhaustion at baseline and high depersonalization at baseline were all associated with a reduced work effort over the course of the following two years. A similar trend was seen in nonphysician healthcare workers who were not satisfied with their organization.
“The cost is likely to be substantial for employers, since benefits and other costs stay the same or increase while revenue generated by the employee decreases,” the authors wrote.
The team concluded by calling for more research into how work environments can be improved so that nonphysician healthcare workers are happier and burnout can be reduced.
Read the full study here.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.