No abstract

Context-Many clinical disciplines report high rates of burnout, which lead to low quality of care. Palliative care clinicians routinely manage patients with significant suffering, aiming to improve quality of life. As a major role of palliative care clinicians involves educating patients and caregivers regarding identifying priorities and balancing stress, we wondered how clinician selfmanagement of burnout matches against the emotionally exhaustive nature of the work. Objectives-We sought to understand the prevalence and predictors of burnout using a discipline-wide survey. Methods-We asked American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine clinician members to complete an electronic survey querying demographic factors, job responsibilities, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. We performed univariate and multivariate regression analyses to identify predictors of high rates of burnout. Results-We received 1357 responses (response rate 30%). Overall, we observed a burnout rate of 62%, with higher rates reported by nonphysician clinicians. Most burnout stemmed from emotional exhaustion, with depersonalization comprising a minor portion. Factors associated with higher rates of burnout include working in smaller organizations, working longer hours, being younger than 50 years, and working weekends. We did not observe different rates between palliative care clinicians and hospice clinicians. Higher rated self-management activities to mitigate burnout include participating in interpersonal relationships and taking vacations.

BACKGROUNDThe specialty of palliative care has experienced remarkable acceptance over the last decade, with teams present in 85% of medium/large hospitals in the US. 1 For many serious illnesses like cancer, advanced heart disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, routine integration of palliative care is considered standard of care.