BURNOUT AMONG DOCTORS WORKING IN AN INTENSIVE CARE UNIT DURING A PANDEMIC

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Burnout is defined as a state of psychological, emotional and physical stress in response to prolonged exposure to occupational stress. ⁽¹⁾ The COVID 19 pandemic has put an immense burden on the medical fraternity. In an Intensive Care Unit, where there is a need for constant contact with the patient for a prolonged period of time it has become a challenge to overcome.  Burnout is prevalent in highly stressful departments such as Emergency departments and Intensive Care Units. In this study we attempted to understand the level of burnout present in doctors working in COVID19 Intensive Care Units. 

METHODOLOGY: After obtaining institutional ethics committee approval, written informed consent was obtained from 390 participants who have worked in the intensive care unit.  It was an observational descriptive questionnaire based study. An online questionnaire was administered to the participants using google forms and the questionnaire contained demographic details and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory(CBI). The collected data was analysed by frequency, percentage chi square test. p<0.05 was considered significant. The statistical software SPSS version 23 was used to analyse the data.

RESULTS: There were 217(55.6%) males and 173(44.3%) females who participated in the study. Maximum participants were doctors 50.7%. Among the three domains highest prevalence was found in the personal domain(80%) followed by work related(73.8%) and least in the patient related domain(55.9%). The prevalence of personal burnout was significantly (p<0.05)higher in females(89.6%) compared to males(55.9%). The prevalence among residents of personal burnout was 96.5%, work related burnout was 83.4% and patient related burnout was 57.1%.

CONCLUSIONS: Burnout is highly prevalent in the ICU setting. The identification of symptoms, introduction of coping strategies, having a worker friendly environment is necessary to ensure the well-being of doctors and striking a balance between work life and personal life.