RESUMEN
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to evaluate the levels of organizational justice, emotional regulation, and workload associated with the level of burnout experienced in medical and non-medical staff from public and private medical units. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 230 healthcare professionals, including 139 medical personnel and 91 non-medical staff respondents. The collected socio-demographic and organizational data and psychological tools were the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI HSS), the ECO System, and the emotional regulation questionnaire (ERQ). RESULTS: For medical staff, burnout was measured in terms of emotional exhaustion (M = 27.05 ± 12.34), depersonalization (M = 8.26 ± 3.95), and personal accomplishment (M = 47.35 ± 6.78). The scores for non-medical staff were emotional exhaustion (M = 35.84 ± 14.71), depersonalization (M = 11.79 ± 6.30), and personal accomplishment (M = 44 ± 7.37). In terms of workload, higher scores were observed for non-medical staff (M = 25.43 ± 7.87), while medical staff recorded lower values (M = 20.35 ± 7.65). The scores for the cognitive reappraisal dimension were as follows: medical personnel (M = 32.02 ± 5.37) and non-medical staff (M = 31.67 ± 6.19). In terms of the expressive suppression dimension, medical staff registered at M = 17.99 ± 5.61, and non-medical staff registered at M = 17.19 ± 5.53. For organizational justice, higher scores were registered for medical staff (M = 25.87 ± 6.02) and lower scores for non-medical staff (M = 21.34 ± 5.72). CONCLUSIONS: Medical staff felt a higher sense of organizational justice than non-medical staff, as is also evidenced by the level of the workload dimension, which registers higher values for non-medical personnel. In the case of burnout, higher levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization dimensions were also revealed for non-medical staff and, in the case of the professional fulfillment dimension, higher scores were registered for medical staff.
RESUMEN
Background: Studies in the recent decades show that the medical profession has a high risk to develop burnout due to constant exposure to mental and physical suffering or death. The pandemic period induced additional stress for healthcare professionals due to the likelihood of a high rate of infection, long working shifts, using protective equipment, staying away from family, implementing new medical procedures. The present study is focusing on assessing the prevalence of burnout among physicians working in the healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic, and discovering the main factors associated with burnout syndrome among the population of physicians. Material and methods: A systematic review was conducted by searching PubMed, Wiley, and Google Scholar in November 2021. A total of 35 studies were eligible for the evaluation. Results: The samples ranged from 39 to 3071 physicians, and the overall burnout ranged from 14.7% to 90.4%. Sociodemographic characteristics associated with a high prevalence of burnout were the female gender, less experienced, not having children, and single marital status, associated with high levels of anxiety, depression, and stress in the female gender. The highest level of burnout among all the studies was 90.4% on a sample of physicians from the Republic of Korea, 80.2% among psychiatrists in Saudi Arabia, followed by a study in Ireland with a 77% level of burnout among senior and specialist physicians, and 74.7% prevalence of burnout for emergency physicians in USA. Conclusions: During the pandemic, the factors that contribute to burnout are the lack of personal protective equipment and the violence of issues related to organizational health; the high prevalence of burnout symptoms is associated with anxiety, depression, and stress.