Changes in Pediatric Faculty Burnout During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

OBJECTIVES To examine the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated workflow changes, such as deployment on pediatric faculty burnout in an early epicenter of the pandemic. We hypothesized burnout would increase during the COVID-19 surge. METHODS We conducted serial cross-sectional surveys of pediatric faculty at an academic, tertiary-care children’s hospital that experienced a COVID-19 surge in the Northeastern United States. Surveys were administered pre-surge (February 2020), during the surge (April 2020), and postsurge (September 2020). The primary outcome was burnout prevalence. We also measured areas of worklife scores. We compared responses between all 3 survey periods. Continuous variables were analyzed by using Student’s t or Mann–Whitney tests, and categorical variables were analyzed by using χ2 or Fisher’s exact test, as appropriate. RESULTS Our response rate was 89 of 223 (40%) presurge, 100 of 267 (37%) during the surge, and 113 of 275 (41%) postsurge. There were no differences in demographics, including sex, race, and academic rank between survey periods. Frequency of burnout was similar in all 3 periods (20% to 26%). The mean scores of emotional exhaustion improved during the surge (2.25 to 1.9; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS Contrary to our hypothesis, we found no changes in pediatric faculty burnout after a COVID-19 surge. Emotional exhaustion improved during the COVID-19 surge. However, these findings represent short-term responses to the COVID-19 surge. Longer-term monitoring of the impact of the COVID-19 surge on pediatric faculty burnout may be necessary for health care organizations to mitigate burnout.

“It’s impossible to do it all”: a cross-sectional observational study of pediatric faculty parents during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…However, results are suggestive of important trends among working parents during the COVID-19 pandemic that have been documented in other professions (7,23,30). Additionally, although the demographics of the survey respondents and the faculty population were reportedly similar, the findings may be influenced by selfselection bias (13). We did identify that parents in their 40s experienced the highest levels of DWC, which may reflect having younger aged children, but the small sample size limited our ability to test an age-moderated model and the lack of data on child age made it impossible to explore this post hoc hypothesis.…”

“…The parent study was designed as a faculty engagement survey that examined work-life domains, faculty burnout, demographic and work profile data. Detailed study design, recruitment methods and measures of the parent study are reported elsewhere (13).…”

“…United States, physicians of all specialties struggled to find work-life balance and avoid burnout (15,16). Since the onset of the pandemic these struggles have intensified, leaving many exhausted, burned out and even leaving the field of medicine entirely (13,17). For pediatric faculty parents additional responsibilities during the pandemic felt "impossible" to manage, especially when responsibilities clashed (e.g., attempting to conduct homeschool and telehealth visits simultaneously).…”

COVID-19 Limitations on Doodling as a Measure of Burnout

“…Although doodling was not found to be a potential measure of burnout under the restrictions imposed by COVID-19 for this particular group, measures of burnout have been developed and studied by psychometric researchers with respect to COVID-19 in various settings. Examples of these include: the COVID-19 Burnout Scale (COVID-19-BS) —investigating the mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between COVID-19 stress and burnout [ 36 ]; the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory—measuring burnout, as well as depression, anxiety, distress, and stress [ 37 ]; and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS)—assessing burnout directly while highlighting emotional exhaustion [ 38 ]. Nevertheless, none of these measures employed and examined during COVID-19 were tested on researchers per se, nor are they simple to administer, as doodling might be if it were found useful as a measure.…”

A Clarion Call: COVID-19 and the Pediatric Behavioral Health Inpatient Crisis

“… 16 These deleterious effects are likewise felt by psychiatry practitioners who, although trained in the arena of mental health, are now tasked with seeing unprecedented volumes of pediatric patients in the inpatient setting due to the impact of COVID. 16 , 17 …”