Burnout syndrome among medical professions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction:
The aim of the study was to assess the risk of burnout syndrome in a group of medical employees who had worked during the COVID-19 pandemic. The secondary objective was to compare two medical groups with the highest response rates – nurses and physiotherapists.

Material and methods:
During the period of March to September 2023, a total of 169 respondents (age 37.2, 22–62, SD = 10.7) – medics (fitting the criteria) – were recruited for the study. The group was dominated by nurses (61% of the group) and physiotherapists (31%); therefore the authors decided to perform a comparative analysis on those 2 groups. The study used an original questionnaire based on a Maslach Burnout Inventory, Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel tool. It was anonymous and conducted using Microsoft Forms through social forums devoted to the groups of specific medical professions.

Results:
The analysis showed high risk scores for 3 analysed burnout syndrome dimensions as described by Maslach: emotional exhaustion (EE) in 45% of cases, depersonalization (DP) in 59%, and reduced personal accomplishment (PA) in 96%. Differences between nurses and physiotherapists were not statistically significant; nor was prior work at a dedicated COVID-19 ward. People working in the private sector had better PA results. Prophylactic measures analysis revealed that a number of employees used alcohol as a countermeasure (p < 0.05 for all 3 dimensions).

Conclusions:
Burnout poses a significant and comparable threat for nurses and physiotherapists. It is vital to implement proper burnout prevention strategies to minimize the use of harmful practices (e.g. alcohol).