The impact of non-medical reading on clinician burnout: a national survey of palliative care providers

Abstract

Background: Clinician burnout in hospice and palliative care (HPC) has potentially widespread negative consequences including increased clinical errors, decreased professionalism, decreased staff retention, and decreased empathy. Reading non-medical literature has been associated with increased empathy, but no studies on the effect of reading on burnout have previously been conducted. We wished to assess reading patterns of practicing HPC clinicians and determine associations between non-medical reading and burnout.Methods: Sixteen-item electronic survey regarding reading practices, exposure to non-medical literature, fatigue, quality of life, and burnout symptoms was administered to members of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Burnout measures of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were assessed by the validated 2-item Maslach Burnout Inventory. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate regression.Results: Seven hundred nine members responded (15.2% response rate), of which 129 (18.2%) met the criteria for burnout, with 117 (16.6%) meeting the criteria for high emotional exhaustion and 45 (6.3%) meeting the criteria for high depersonalization. On univariate analysis, burnout was associated with age, reading habits, and fatigue, but not years in practice. On multivariable logistic regression consistent readers had decreased odds of overall burnout compared to inconsistent readers (OR 0.61; 95% CI, 0.39-0.97, P=0.036). This was true across the depersonalization (OR 0.58; 95% CI, 0.36-0.93, P=0.025), but not the emotional exhaustion domain. Conclusions:Reading non-medical literature on a consistent basis may be associated with a significantly decreased likelihood of burnout, specifically across the depersonalization domain.

Prevalence of burnout in healthcare professionals providing palliative care and the effect of interventions to reduce symptoms: A systematic literature review

“…Quality of the papers was assessed as ‘fair’ to ‘good’ in 29 papers. 21,28 –55 Thirty studies were rated ‘poor’ to ‘fair’. 56 –85 Ten studies were intervention studies, the quality of seven of these was assessed between ‘poor’ to ‘fair’.…”

Lessons in Stories: Why Narrative Medicine Has a Role in Pediatric Palliative Care Training

“…To assess the problem of burnout, Marchalik et al used the two-item Maslach Burnout Inventory [ 10 ] in a survey of hospice and palliative medicine (HPM) providers. The team discovered that in the population of HPM survey respondents, 16.6% met the criteria for high emotional exhaustion (“I feel burned out from my work”) and 6.3% met the criteria for high depersonalization (“I have become more callous toward people since I took this job”) [ 11 ]. In the same study, it was shown that providers without burnout were more likely to be consistent readers of non-medical literature, thus suggesting that engaging with literature of this kind may actually be a protective factor against burnout in HPM providers [ 11 ].…”

“…The team discovered that in the population of HPM survey respondents, 16.6% met the criteria for high emotional exhaustion (“I feel burned out from my work”) and 6.3% met the criteria for high depersonalization (“I have become more callous toward people since I took this job”) [ 11 ]. In the same study, it was shown that providers without burnout were more likely to be consistent readers of non-medical literature, thus suggesting that engaging with literature of this kind may actually be a protective factor against burnout in HPM providers [ 11 ]. Given that the main protective effect was observed across the domain of depersonalization, the authors concluded that reading fiction may help to encourage empathy by strengthening Theory of Mind, thereby reducing provider callousness toward patients.…”

Understanding the role of regulatory flexibility and context sensitivity in preventing burnout in a palliative home care team

“…However, evidence from a meta-analysis highlighted only a small negative correlation between work experience and emotional exhaustion [57]. Recently, another study found that years in practice did not distinguish significantly between burnedout and not burned-out specialist palliative care practitioners [58].…”