Stress and burnout among professionals working in the emergency department in a French university hospital: Prevalence and associated factors.

BACKGROUND: Work-related stress is a significant health and safety concern. OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of burnout and occupational stress among emergency department (ED) professionals and to identify associated factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study included all ED professionals of a French university hospital. Data were collected using the French versions of the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Karasek Job Content Questionnaire. RESULTS: Of the 166 respondents (75.8%), 19.3% reported burnout and 27.1% job strain. Factors associated with burnout were work-related dissatisfaction, fear of making mistakes, lack of time to perform tasks, and being younger. Those factors associated with job strain were having at least one sick leave in the past year, being affected by hard work, interpersonal conflicts at workplace, and sleep disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the literature, our results showed a lower prevalence of burnout among physicians but similar among paramedics. The proportion of professionals with job strain was higher than that of the whole French working population. Organizational factors and the work environment were the primary causes of burnout and job strain, while being younger was the only associated sociodemographic factor. The identification of professionals experiencing difficulty is essential to ensure patient safety, particularly in the high-risk field of emergency medicine.

Burnout Syndrome among Emergency Department Staff: Prevalence and Associated Factors.

OBJECTIVES: Emergency department (ED) professionals are exposed to burnout syndrome due to excessive workload and high demands for care. The objective of our study was to assess the prevalence burnout among all ED staff and to determine associated factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 3 EDs. The data were collected using a standardized questionnaire. It included demographical and occupational data, general health questions, burnout level (Maslach Burnout Inventory), job strain (Karasek), and quality of life (Medical Outcome Study Short Form). RESULTS: Of the 529 professionals working in EDs, 379 responses were collected (participation rate of 71.6%). Emotional exhaustion (EE) and depersonalization (DP), the major components of burnout, were reported, respectively, by 15.8% and 29.6% of the professionals. Burnout prevalence was 34.6%, defined as a severely abnormal level of either EE or DP. The medical category was significantly more affected by the burnout compared with their colleagues: nearly one ED physician out of two had a burnout (50.7%). In the multivariate analysis of covariance, job strain and a low mental component score were the two main factors independently associated with burnout (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of our study show that ED professionals are a vulnerable group. Preventive approaches to stress and burnout are needed to promote quality of work life.