Background
Burnout is a stress condition that develops at work as a result of ongoing exposure to strain. Psychoanalyst Freudenberger first coined the phrase in the early 1970s and later characterized it as having three substantive measurements: emotional weariness, skepticism and detachment, diminished professional efficacy, and personal accomplishment (De Hert, 2020). Burnout among healthcare professionals is thought to affect the standard of treatment, but little is known about how consistently and significantly it affects patient outcomes. The performance (quality, patient experience) and safety of the treatment are often connected to provider burnout (emotional weariness, depersonalization, and lower personal achievement).
Prevalence
It is challenging to get a precise and accurate picture of the prevalence of burnout in the general public due to the lack of a universally agreed diagnosis of the phenomenon of burnout, its complex etiology, and the ambiguity and relativism of the clinical definition. Estimates put the figure at up to 20% of the working population, however, the percentage is highly reliant on the thresholds used to identify acute burnout (De Hert, 2020). The majority of comments have emphasized the need for healthcare experts to take better treatment of themselves, develop more resilience, and manage pressures on their own. We should define burnout as a systemic problem rather than just an individual one since the weariness, cynicism, and subsequent feelings of ineffectuality experienced by persons with burnout are frequently shared experiences in reaction to common job pressures (Montgomery et al., 2019). Effective methods for avoiding and reducing burnout in healthcare settings are required.
Causes
The drastic changes made to the American healthcare system have had a severe impact on physicians’ satisfaction, resulting in burnout. A study was undertaken by the American Medical Association (AMA) to determine the variables affecting doctors’ job satisfaction. Quality of service and the usage of electronic health records (EHRs) were revealed to be important factors connected to burnout in this study, which was meant to represent physician practices in 6 various states (Bridgeman et al., 2018). Struggles and burnout have been ascribed to the accessibility, time restraints, impact of technology on the provider-patient interaction, impact on work fulfillment, and deteriorating reliability of clinical information related to the installation of these technologies.
Impacts
Reduced job satisfaction, absenteeism, staff turnover, and pessimism are effects of burnout. These impacts at work usually have negative implications on personal lives, including discontentment, anxiety, sadness, loneliness, drug misuse, tense and strained relationships, and separation. Compared to other professions, burnout in medicine may have greater detrimental effects on one’s professional standing. Physician burnout has been associated with poor patient care, which lowers patient satisfaction and lowers the quality of care (De Hert, 2020). This might potentially result in medical mistakes, malpractice claims, and subsequent lawsuits, which would be very expensive for health facilities and providers. Accordingly, high levels of burnout reported by medical departments may be a warning that patient safety is declining. Burnout needs to be taken into account in the evaluation of the standard of care if it may be said to be a sign of organizational dysfunction.
It is crucial to take a more comprehensive approach to combat burnout. There are several detrimental effects of staff burnout on the healthcare environment, including decreased patient outcomes and decreased care coordination. The issue for healthcare institutions in a setting of healthcare that is becoming more complicated, with the dual pressures of scarce resources and rising levels of burnout, is to create treatments to combat those concerns.
References
Bridgeman, P. J., Bridgeman, M. B., & Barone, J. (2018). Burnout syndrome among healthcare professionals. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 75(3), 147–152.
De Hert, S. (2020). Burnout in healthcare workers: Prevalence, impact and preventative strategies. Local and Regional Anesthesia, Volume 13, 171–183.
Montgomery, A., Panagopoulou, E., Esmail, A., Richards, T., & Maslach, C. (2019). Burnout in healthcare: the case for organisational change. BMJ, l4774.