Resources

Addressing clinician burnout and supporting professional well-being is essential to achieving the goals of better care, improved population health, and lower costs.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Taking Action Against Clinician Burnout: A Systems Approach to Professional Well-Being. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25521.

Dr. Peter Connaughton’s presentation at the 2nd International Conference on Mining OSH and Energy in conjunction with The 13th Indonesian Occupational Medicine Updates on October 8, 2019 in Bali, Indonesia.

Increased demand for health services is putting unprecedented strain on health systems and the workers within them. Many are experiencing burn-out, depriving health systems of their most vital resource: people.

This study was conducted to assess the lifestyle behaviours of a national sample of hospital doctors working in Ireland. While the prevalence of health behaviours amongst hospital doctors in Ireland compares favourably to the general population, their alcohol consumption and engagement in health enhancing physical activity suggest room for improvement.

A national cross-sectional study was done to measure levels of occupational stress, burn-out, work–life balance, presenteeism, work ability and desire to practise in trainee and consultant hospital doctors in Ireland. Participants included 1749 doctors (response rate of 55%). Burn-out was evident in 29.7% and was significantly associated with male sex, younger age, lower years of practice, lower desire to practise, lower work ability, higher ERI ratio and greater over commitment.

With workplace initiatives, fact sheets and training packages everywhere, there is a huge move to promote well-being and reduce avoidable mental health issues. As clinicians working in occupational health, we not only deliver such interventions but we also see at first hand the harm that can be done when employers are not doing enough in support of mental health and well-being in the workplace.

Doctors are at considerable risk of work-related stress, burnout and mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. The risk is greater than that of the general working population and is increasing over time in line with the growing demands and complexity of the job, a faster pace of work and diminishing resources.

The purpose and goals of the ACOEM/UL Summit were to: (1) explore the evidence linking worker health and safety with patient health and safety; (2) develop a series of recommendations on how best to integrate worker and patient health and safety programs; (3) examine potential means of evaluating the effectiveness of these programs, with results to include quality, satisfaction, and cost metrics for employee/ patient health and safety that will improve over time; and (4) promote implementation and dissemination of the best and most effective practices.

This study aims to assess the levels of burnout among Australian-based doctors involved in the service. A total of 168 valid questionnaires out of 300 were returned (56% response rate). The Total Maslach Mean Scores (MMS) obtained were 15.97 for Emotional Exhaustion (EE), 3.15 for Depersonalization (DP) and 40.39 for Personal Accomplishment (PA), signifying low-level burnouts in all three dimensions of the MBI. Burnout levels are low while perceived achievements are high among doctors involved in after-hours house calls in Australia.

This study reports the incidence of burnout in Portuguese healthcare professionals. At the national level, between 2011 and 2013, 21.6% of healthcare professionals showed moderate burnout and 47.8% showed high burnout. The perception of poor working conditions was the main predictor of burnout occurrence among the Portuguese health professionals.

This study investigates the frequency of medical supplies shortages in two Greek hospital units of the National Health System and assesses the possible impact on burnout risk of health care workers. It is a cross-sectional study (n=303) of health care workers in two Greek hospitals who were present at the workplace during a casually selected working day (morning shift work). The prevalence of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment was 44.5%, 43.2% and 51.5%, respectively. Medical supply shortages were significantly associated with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.

The National Mental Health Survey of Doctors and Medical Students was conducted with the aims of:

• understanding issues associated with the mental health of Australian medical students and doctors

• increasing awareness across the medical profession and broader community of issues associated with the mental

• health of medical students and doctors, and

• informing the development of mental health services and supports for the medical profession.