Burnout Among Healthcare Workers in the COVID 19 Era: A Review of the Existing Literature

In the current period of global public health crisis due to the COVID-19, healthcare workers are more exposed to physical and mental exhaustion - burnout - for the torment of difficult decisions, the pain of losing patients and colleagues, and the risk of infection, for themselves and their families...

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Published inFrontiers in public health Vol. 9; p. 750529
Main Authors Leo, Carlo Giacomo, Sabina, Saverio, Tumolo, Maria Rosaria, Bodini, Antonella, Ponzini, Giuseppe, Sabato, Eugenio, Mincarone, Pierpaolo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 29.10.2021
Subjects
Adaptation, Psychological
burnout
Burnout, Professional - epidemiology
COVID-19
Health Personnel
healthcare workers
Humans
mental health
Public Health
SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19
burnout
healthcare workers
mental health
public health
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Summary:In the current period of global public health crisis due to the COVID-19, healthcare workers are more exposed to physical and mental exhaustion - burnout - for the torment of difficult decisions, the pain of losing patients and colleagues, and the risk of infection, for themselves and their families. The very high number of cases and deaths, and the probable future "waves" raise awareness of these challenging working conditions and the need to address burnout by identifying possible solutions. Measures have been suggested to prevent or reduce burnout at individual level (physical activity, balanced diet, good sleep hygiene, family support, meaningful relationships, reflective practices and small group discussions), organizational level (blame-free environments for sharing experiences and advices, broad involvement in management decisions, multi-disciplinary psychosocial support teams, safe areas to withdraw quickly from stressful situations, adequate time planning, social support), and cultural level (involvement of healthcare workers in the development, implementation, testing, and evaluation of measures against burnout). Although some progress has been made in removing the barrier to psychological support to cope with work-related stress, a cultural change is still needed for the stigma associated with mental illness. The key recommendation is to address the challenges that the emergency poses and to aggregate health, well-being and behavioral science expertise through long term researches with rigorous planning and reporting to drive the necessary cultural change and the improvement of public health systems.
Bibliography:Edited by: John Koku Awoonor-Williams, Ghana Health Service, Ghana
These authors have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship
This article was submitted to Occupational Health and Safety, a section of the journal Frontiers in Public Health
Reviewed by: Angela Stufano, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy; Giuseppe De Palma, University of Brescia, Italy
ISSN:2296-2565
2296-2565
DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2021.750529