A Narrative Review of Burnout Syndrome in Medical Personnel

Andreea-Petra Ungur; Maria Bârsan; Andreea-Iulia Socaciu; Armand Gabriel Râjnoveanu; Răzvan Ionuț; Letiția Goia; Lucia Maria Procopciuc

doi:10.3390/diagnostics14171971

journal article Open Access Sep 06, 2024

A Narrative Review of Burnout Syndrome in Medical Personnel

Andreea-Petra Ungur Maria Bârsan

Andreea-Iulia Socaciu Armand Gabriel Râjnoveanu

Răzvan Ionuț Letiția Goia Lucia Maria Procopciuc

Diagnostics Vol. 14 No. 17 pp. 1971 · MDPI AG

View at Publisher Save 10.3390/diagnostics14171971

Abstract

Burnout among healthcare workers has been extensively studied since its initial recognition in 1960, with its defining characteristics established by Maslach in 1982. The syndrome, characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment, is exacerbated by work-related stress and has profound implications for individual and societal well-being. Methods: A review of the literature, including PubMed searches and analyses of risk factors and protective measures, was conducted to assess the prevalence, impacts, and biomarkers associated with burnout among healthcare workers. Various instruments for evaluating burnout were examined, including the widely used Maslach Burnout Inventory, alongside specific tools tailored to different occupational populations. Results: Healthcare workers, particularly physicians, exhibit significantly higher rates of burnout compared to the general population. Factors such as night shifts, workload, and exposure to biohazards contribute to elevated burnout risk. Biomarkers like cortisol, melatonin, and thyroid hormones have been linked to burnout, highlighting physiological implications. Conclusions: Burnout poses significant challenges to healthcare systems globally, impacting patient care, worker retention, and overall well-being. Identifying and addressing risk factors while promoting protective factors such as resilience and social support are crucial in mitigating burnout. Further research into prevention strategies and biomarker monitoring is warranted to support the mental and physical health of healthcare workers.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

110

[1]

Prevalence of Burnout Among Physicians

Lisa S. Rotenstein, Matthew Torre, Marco A. Ramos et al.

JAMA 2018 10.1001/jama.2018.12777

[2]

Staff Burn‐Out

Herbert J. Freudenberger

Journal of Social Issues 1974 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1974.tb00706.x

[3]

Maslach, C., Jackson, S.E., and Leiter, M.P. (1996). Maslach Burnout Inventory Manual, Consulting Psychologists Press.

[4]

Maslach, C., Jackson, S.E., and Leiter, M.P. (2016). Maslach Burnout Inventory Manual, Publisher Mind Garden, Inc.. [4th ed.]. Available online: www.mindgarden.com.

[5]

The job demands-resources model of burnout.

Evangelia Demerouti, Arnold B. Bakker, Friedhelm Nachreiner et al.

Journal of Applied Psychology 2001 10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.499

[6]

Borritz "Burnout among employees in human service work: Design and baseline findings of the PUMA study" Scand. J. Public Health (2006) 10.1080/14034940510032275

[7]

Burnout and Satisfaction With Work-Life Balance Among US Physicians Relative to the General US Population

Tait D. Shanafelt, Sonja Boone, Litjen Tan et al.

Archives of Internal Medicine 2012 10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3199

[8]

Shanafelt "Changes in Burnout and Satisfaction with Work-Life Integration in Physicians and the General US Working Population between 2011 and 2017" Mayo Clin. Proc. (2019) 10.1016/j.mayocp.2018.10.023

[9]

<p>Burnout in Healthcare Workers: Prevalence, Impact and Preventative Strategies</p>

Stefan De Hert

Local and Regional Anesthesia 2020 10.2147/lra.s240564

[10]

Arnetz "Psychosocial challenges facing physicians of today" Soc. Sci. Med. (2000) 10.1016/s0277-9536(00)00220-3

[11]

Suksatan "Assessment effects and risk of nosocomial infection and needle sticks injuries among patents and health care worker" Toxicol. Rep. (2022) 10.1016/j.toxrep.2022.02.013

[12]

Triassi "Infectious risk for healthcare workers: Evaluation and prevention" Ann. Ig. (2018)

[13]

Saadeh "Needle Stick and Sharp Injuries among Healthcare Workers: A Retrospective Six-Year Study" Sultan Qaboos Univ. Med. J. (2020) 10.18295/squmj.2020.20.01.008

[14]

Merlo "Physician Burnout: A Lifestyle Medicine Perspective" Am. J. Lifestyle Med. (2021) 10.1177/1559827620980420

[15]

The prevalence of stress, anxiety and depression within front-line healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-regression

Nader Salari, Habibolah Khazaie, Amin Hosseinian-Far et al.

Human Resources for Health 2020 10.1186/s12960-020-00544-1

[16]

Majumder "Recent Developments on Therapeutic and Diagnostic Approaches for COVID-19" AAPS J. (2021) 10.1208/s12248-020-00532-2

[17]

Carlsten "COVID-19 as an occupational disease" Am. J. Ind. Med. (2021) 10.1002/ajim.23222

[18]

Molina-Praena, J., Ramirez-Baena, L., Gómez-Urquiza, J.L., Cañadas, G.R., De la Fuente, E.I., and Cañadas-De la Fuente, G.A. (2018). Levels of Burnout and Risk Factors in Medical Area Nurses: A Meta-Analytic Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 15. 10.3390/ijerph15122800

[19]

Burri "Risk factors associated with physical therapist burnout: A systematic review" Physiotherapy (2022) 10.1016/j.physio.2022.01.005

[20]

Dugani "Prevalence and factors associated with burnout among frontline primary health care providers in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review" Gates Open Res. (2018) 10.12688/gatesopenres.12779.1

[21]

Montgomery "Psychometric properties of Copenhagen Burnout Inventory among nurses" Res. Nurs. Health (2021) 10.1002/nur.22114

[22]

Suleiman-Martos, N., Albendín-García, L., Gómez-Urquiza, J.L., Vargas-Román, K., Ramirez-Baena, L., Ortega-Campos, E., and De La Fuente-Solana, E.I. (2020). Prevalence and Predictors of Burnout in Midwives: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 17. 10.3390/ijerph17020641

[23]

Block "Is Exhaustion More Sensitive Than Disengagement to Burnout in Academic Anesthesia? A Study Using the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory" Psychol. Rep. (2020) 10.1177/0033294119856560

[24]

Demerouti "The convergent validity of two burnout instruments: A multitrait-multimethod analysis" Eur. J. Psychol. Assess. (2003) 10.1027//1015-5759.19.1.12

[25]

"Monitoring Psychosocial Stress at Work: Development of the Psychosocial Working Conditions Questionnaire" Int. J. Occup. Saf. Ergon. (2000) 10.1080/10803548.2000.11105108

[26]

Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT)—Development, Validity, and Reliability

Wilmar B. Schaufeli, Steffie Desart, Hans De WITTE

International Journal of Environmental Research an... 10.3390/ijerph17249495

[27]

Abeltina "Burnout Clinical Subtypes Questionnaire (BCSQ-36): Reliability and validity study in Latvia" Psychol. Health Med. (2020) 10.1080/13548506.2019.1710544

[28]

Guerrero-Barona, E., Guerrero-Molina, M., García-Gómez, A., Moreno-Manso, J.M., and García-Baamonde, M.E. (2020). Quality of Working Life, Psychosocial Factors, Burnout Syndrome and Emotional Intelligence. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 17. 10.3390/ijerph17249550

[29]

Pérez-Fuentes, M.D.C., Molero Jurado, M.D.M., Martos Martínez, Á., and Gázquez Linares, J.J. (2018). New Burnout Evaluation Model Based on the Brief Burnout Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties for Nursing. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 15. 10.20944/preprints201811.0512.v1

[30]

Gerber, M., Colledge, F., Mücke, M., Schilling, R., Brand, S., and Ludyga, S. (2018). Psychometric properties of the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM) among adolescents: Results from three cross-sectional studies. BMC Psychiatry, 18. 10.1186/s12888-018-1841-5

[31]

Hadzibajramovic, E., Ahlborg, G., Grimby-Ekman, A., and Lundgren-Nilsson, Å. (2015). Internal construct validity of the stress-energy questionnaire in a working population, a cohort study. BMC Public Health, 15. 10.1186/s12889-015-1524-9

[32]

Kiuru "The role of educational track in adolescents’ school burnout: A longitudinal study" Br. J. Educ. Psychol. (2008) 10.1348/000709908x281628

[33]

Carmona-Halty, M., Mena-Chamorro, P., Sepúlveda-Páez, G., and Ferrer-Urbina, R. (2022). School Burnout Inventory: Factorial Validity, Reliability, and Measurement Invariance in a Chilean Sample of High School Students. Front. Psychol., 12. 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.774703

[34]

May, R.W., Rivera, P.M., Rogge, R.D., and Fincham, F.D. (2020). School Burnout Inventory: Latent Profile and Item Response Theory Analyses in Undergraduate Samples. Front. Psychol., 11. 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00188

[35]

Roskam, I., Brianda, M.-E., and Mikolajczak, M. (2018). A Step Forward in the Conceptualization and Measurement of Parental Burnout: The Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA). Front. Psychol., 9. 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00758

[36]

The Relationship Between Teacher Job Stress and Burnout: A Moderated Mediation Model

Weiguo Zhao, Xiangrui Liao, Qingtian Li et al.

Frontiers in Psychology 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.784243

[37]

Development and Preliminary Validation of an Athlete Burnout Measure

Thomas D. Raedeke, Alan L. Smith

Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 2001 10.1123/jsep.23.4.281

[38]

Jonsdottir "Mechanisms in endocrinology: Endocrine and immunological aspects of burnout: A narrative review" Eur. J. Endocrinol. (2019) 10.1530/eje-18-0741

[39]

Marca "Harmonized definition of occupational burnout: A systematic review, semantic analysis, and Delphi consensus in 29 countries" Scand. J. Work. Environ. Health (2020)

[40]

Demarzo, M., García-Campayo, J., Martínez-Rubio, D., Pérez-Aranda, A., Miraglia, J.L., Hirayama, M.S., de Salvo, V.M.A., Cicuto, K., Favarato, M.L., and Terra, V. (2020). Frenetic, under-Challenged, and Worn-out Burnout Subtypes among Brazilian Primary Care Personnel: Validation of the Brazilian “Burnout Clinical Subtype Questionnaire” (BCSQ-36/BCSQ-12). Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 17. 10.3390/ijerph17031081

[41]

Montero-Marin, J., Zubiaga, F., Cereceda, M., Demarzo, M.M.P., Trenc, P., and Garcia-Campayo, J. (2016). Burnout Subtypes and Absence of Self-Compassion in Primary Healthcare Professionals: A Cross-Sectional Study. PLoS ONE, 11, Erratum in PLoS ONE 2020, 15, e0231370. 10.1371/journal.pone.0231370

[42]

Mera "A new definition of burnout syndrome based on Farber’s proposal" J. Occup. Med. Toxicol. (2009) 10.1186/1745-6673-4-31

[43]

Noushad "Physiological biomarkers of chronic stress: A systematic review" Int. J. Health Sci. (2021)

[44]

Zitman "Biomarkers in burnout: A systematic review" J. Psychosom. Res. (2011) 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2010.10.012

[45]

Presl "Melatonin rhythm in human milk" J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. (1993)

[46]

Dubbels "Melatonin in edible plants identified by radioimmunoassay and by high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry" J. Pineal Res. (1995) 10.1111/j.1600-079x.1995.tb00136.x

[47]

Zisapel "New perspectives on the role of melatonin in human sleep, circadian rhythms and their regulation" Br. J. Pharmacol. (2018) 10.1111/bph.14116

[48]

Back "Melatonin metabolism, signaling and possible roles in plants" Plant J. (2020) 10.1111/tpj.14915

[49]

Claustrat "Melatonin: Physiological effects in humans" Neurochirurgie (2015) 10.1016/j.neuchi.2015.03.002

[50]

Melatonin as an antioxidant: under promises but over delivers

Russel J. Reiter, Juan C. Mayo, Dun‐Xian Tan et al.

Journal of Pineal Research 2016 10.1111/jpi.12360

Showing 50 of 110 references

Cited By

24

The Biological Clock Influenced by Burnout, Hormonal Dysregulation and Circadian Misalignment: A Systematic Review

Alexandru Ungurianu, Virginia Marina · 2025

Clocks & Sleep

Metrics

24

Citations

110

References

Details

Published: Sep 06, 2024
Vol/Issue: 14(17)
Pages: 1971
License: View

Authors

A

Andreea-Petra Ungur