Women, Younger Clinicians’, and Caregivers’ Experiences of Burnout and Well-being During COVID-19 in a US Healthcare System

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic brought rapid changes to the work and personal lives of clinicians. Objective To assess clinician burnout and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic and guide healthcare system improvement efforts. Design A survey asking about clinician burnout, well-being, and work experiences. Participants Surveys distributed to 8141 clinicians from June to August 2020 in 9 medical groups and 17 hospitals at Sutter Health, a large healthcare system in Northern California. Main Measures Burnout was the primary outcome, and other indicators of well-being and work experience were also measured. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. All statistical inferences were based on weighted estimates adjusting for response bias. Key Results A total of 3176 clinicians (39.0%) responded to the survey. Weighted results showed 29.2% reported burnout, and burnout was more common among women than among men (39.0% vs. 22.7%, p<0.01). In multivariate models, being a woman was associated with increased odds of reporting burnout (OR=2.19, 95% CI: 1.51–3.17) and being 55+ years old with lower odds (OR=0.54, 95% CI: 0.34–0.87). More women than men reported that childcare/caregiving was impacting work (32.9% vs. 19.0%, p<0.01). Even after controlling for age and gender, clinicians who reported childcare/caregiving responsibilities impacted their work had substantially higher odds of reporting burnout (OR=2.19, 95% CI: 1.54–3.11). Other factors associated with higher burnout included worrying about safety at work, being given additional work tasks, concern about losing one’s job, and working in emergency medicine or radiology. Protective factors included believing one’s concerns will be acted upon and feeling highly valued. Conclusions This large survey found the pandemic disproportionally impacted women, younger clinicians, and those whose caregiving responsibilities impacted their work. These results highlight the need for a holistic and targeted strategy for improving clinician well-being that addresses the needs of women, younger clinicians, and those with caregiving responsibilities.

Psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in community pharmacists: A longitudinal study

“…More women than men reported that childcare/caregiving affected work during the COVID-19 pandemic (32.9% vs. 19.0%, P < 0.01). 19 Persistent posttraumatic stress or burnout symptoms were not associated with demographic data. Nevertheless, our sample is small to perform a more comprehensive analysis, including additional factors associated with persistent psychological difficulties.…”

“…Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic affected remote learning for children, which probably mainly affected the mothers, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown when school and nurseries were closed. For example, Dillon et al 19 showed that burnout was more common among women than among men (39.0% vs. 22.7%, P < 0.01) in 3176 U.S. physicians. More women than men reported that childcare/caregiving affected work during the COVID-19 pandemic (32.9% vs. 19.0%, P < 0.01).…”

Diagnostic accuracy of the Single‐item Measure of Burnout (Japanese version) for identifying medical resident burnout

“…Since the SMB reflects the degree of emotional exhaustion and is free and easy to administer, it has become widely used as an alternative to the MBI. 8 , 15 , 16 …”

“…Since the SMB reflects the degree of emotional exhaustion and is free and easy to administer, it has become widely used as an alternative to the MBI. 8,15,16 In Japan, there are few studies on burnout, and only one nationwide survey on medical resident burnout has been published. 17 However, if the SMB were available and shown to accurately assess burnout, it would facilitate research on burnout and its assessment in medical institutions.…”

“…The SMB's diagnostic performance suggests that the score correlates well with the MBI EE subscale score, and may have high specificity but low sensitivity for diagnosing burnout, as measured by the MBI. Since the SMB reflects the degree of emotional exhaustion and is free and easy to administer, it has become widely used as an alternative to the MBI 8,15,16 …”