[Burnout and executive functions in Palliative Care health professionals: influence of burnout on decision making]. / Burnout y funciones ejecutivas en personal sanitario de Cuidados Paliativos: influencia del desgaste profesional sobre la toma de decisiones.
Burnout syndrome was present in 54.5% of palliative carehealth professionals, 15.6% of them with more than one dimension altered; these professionals showed significantly lower scores than professionals without burnout in the Stroop test, the Letter-Number Sequencing and the IowaGambling Task. Higher levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were associated with significantly lower scores in the IowaGambling Task for assessing decision-making.
CONCLUSIONS:
The results showed that palliative carehealth professionals with a higher level of burnout have an alteration of inhibition, working memory and decision-making. These executive functions can be relevant in the clinical setting since they could be related to the cognitive thinking required for correct clinical reasoning by health professionals.