Prevalence and Risk Factors of Burnout among Healthcare Professionals during COVID-19 Pandemic - Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: study the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the prevalence of burnout and the associated factors among health care workers in Saudi Arabia. Methodology: This study targeted all categories of health care workers (HCWs) in Saudi Arabia. The data were collected through an online questionnaire that included: sociodemographic data, medical history, smoking history, work characteristics, direct care of infected patients, questions of Maslach Burnout inventory (MBI) to assess burnout among health care workers that assess the Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalization (DP), and Personal Achievement (PA). The collected data was analyzed through SPSS program version 25. Results: The total number of the participants in this study was 3,557. The results showed that 38.5% of the participants scored high for EE, 31.2% for DP, and 33.6% for PA. On analysis, being younger than the age of 40 years, female, or Saudi nationality tended to be associated with increased all burnout parameters. Shift work, on call duties, changing working hours, direct involvement in management of COVID-19 patients were associated with high burnout scores. Conclusion: High burnout is common among healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia during COVID-19 pandemic due to direct contact with infected cases and changes in the working patterns during the pandemic, etc. These factors should be discussed to find solutions to relieve the health care workers from excess stress and burnout.

Burnout among frontline health professionals in two African countries: a cross sectional study from Egypt and Sudan

“…The mean score of burnout of all participants of the present study was 2.64 ± 0.36 consistent with frontline nurses working in COVID-19 wards in Iran hospitals where the mean score of burnout was 2.61±0.27. 46 Age from 20-40 years was signi cantly associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion among Egyptian study participants similar to ndings of other studies 13,32,38,47,48 and this was explained by study conducted by Dimitriu et al (2020) that younger physicians are always more work loaded and faced continuously with unpredictable changes in duty schedules and cancelation of vacations. Others explained that older HCPs may have a better knowledge in comparison to the younger ones in coping with burnout.…”

“…Other reasons that may explain the high prevalence of burnout in the current study is that being based on assessment of burnout syndrome among the HCPs working in the isolation facilities; the increased workload, increased psychological distress, the burden from the direct contact with COVID-19 patients, and the stress of dealing with a new emergent disease in addition to the fear of self-infection or infecting their relatives collectively can cause increased burnout levels in comparison to HCPs working in nonisolation health facilities. 17,37,38 In addition to that, working among isolated patients are likely to experience multiple mental health problems and that many HCPs working at isolation facilities are withdrawn or suggested self-isolation after working on COVID-19 cases. 39 Although this explanation was contradictory to other studies which stated that non-frontline HCPS show higher level of burnout and stress than frontline HCPS, explained by the isolation facilities are better organized and there is sense of more control while the fear of being exposed when the protocols and organizations do not seem well established is the situation in non-isolation facilities.…”

“…Others explained that older HCPs may have a better knowledge in comparison to the younger ones in coping with burnout. 38 While other studies reasoned that young HCPs are more exposed to social media which is full of information about the pandemic, some necessary and some are unnecessary disturbing news that can be stressful. 49 But this was not the condition among the study Sudanese participants as being older than 40 years was signi cantly associated with more levels of emotional exhaustion and supporting this results was that older practitioners fear more exposure risk to infection and occurrence of complications especially if they have underlying diseases.…”

“…Long working hours also causes more exposure to patients. 38,42 Long working hours may have an impact on the social life and family of women HCPs and may result in the development of fear and guilt towards their families. 13 Resting time is always needed to guarantee personal wellness and a proper job performance, 53 as the inadequate leisure time appeared to from the major stressors and associated with a high level of burnout.…”

Investigation of Burnout Levels of Anaesthesiologists and Technicians in Covid-19 Pandemic Period

“…The rate of burnout levels in our study is significantly higher than this study. In the Saudi Arabian study, shift work patterns, on-call shifts at home, change in working hours, and taking part in the management of COVID-19 patients were associated with higher burnout scores [14]. The high rates in our study compared to this study may be related to the monthly income, working hours, and working conditions of the staff.…”