Burnout of Healthcare Workers in Acute Care Geriatric Facilities During the COVID-19 Crisis: An Online-Based Study.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE The COVID-19 crisis has been increasing the burden of healthcare workers in acute care geriatric facilities. These workers have been dealing with drastic changes in the care they provide to their residents including cancelation of group activities and communal dining and even restrictions of activities outside rooms. Healthcare workers have also been devoting more time and energy to perform COVID-related medical duties. Geriatric facilities have been facing shortages in equipment and supplies, as well as staffing shortages. Finally, healthcare workers have been facing challenges regarding their personal safety and that of their families. Consequently, we hypothesized the presence of high levels of burnout among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 crisis. METHODS To evaluate burnout in healthcare workers in French acute care geriatric facilities, we used an online survey based on the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory. Eighty-four healthcare workers answered the survey, during April of 2020. RESULTS Analysis demonstrated that they were experiencing medium levels of burnout, exhaustion, and disengagement. CONCLUSION This level of burnout reflected their fatigue, loss of energy, and/or feelings of being overextended and exhausted. Considering the expected cumulative impact of various stressors, the medium level of burnout observed has come as a surprise to us and might actually be considered as relatively good news. Nevertheless, no level of burnout is negligible and has wide ranging negative consequences.

[1]  R. Agha,et al.  World Health Organization declares global emergency: A review of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) , 2020, International Journal of Surgery.

[2]  Yan Zhao,et al.  Clinical Characteristics of 138 Hospitalized Patients With 2019 Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia in Wuhan, China. , 2020, JAMA.

[3]  D. Kapogiannis,et al.  The (fatalistic) present as experienced by individuals with Alzheimer’s disease: a preliminary study , 2019, Neurological Sciences.

[4]  F. Bal,et al.  The Burden of Care and Burnout in Individuals Caring for Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease , 2019, Community Mental Health Journal.

[5]  R. Jardri,et al.  Clinical and neurocognitive aspects of hallucinations in Alzheimer’s disease , 2017, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[6]  Nirbhay N. Singh,et al.  Effectiveness of Caregiver Training in Mindfulness-Based Positive Behavior Support (MBPBS) vs. Training-as-Usual (TAU): A Randomized Controlled Trial , 2016, Front. Psychol..

[7]  M. El Haj,et al.  Death Preparation and Boredom Reduction as Functions of Reminiscence in Alzheimer's Disease. , 2016, Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD.

[8]  A. H. Boudoukha,et al.  Inpatients-to-Caregivers Violence in Geriatric Settings: Impact of Assaults on Caregivers' Mental Health, Risk, and Protective Factors , 2015 .

[9]  Li-ye Zhou,et al.  Measuring the Caregiver Burden of Caring for Community-Residing People with Alzheimer’s Disease , 2015, PloS one.

[10]  Despoina Xanthopoulou,et al.  Measuring job and academic burnout with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI): Factorial invariance across samples and countries , 2015 .

[11]  M. Hautekèete,et al.  Inmates-to-Staff Assaults, PTSD and Burnout , 2013, Journal of interpersonal violence.

[12]  P. Brough,et al.  Burnt‐out but engaged: the co‐existence of psychological burnout and engagement , 2012 .

[13]  John B. Schorling,et al.  A Mindfulness Course Decreases Burnout and Improves Well-Being among Healthcare Providers , 2012, International journal of psychiatry in medicine.

[14]  Paul D. Ellis,et al.  The essential guide to effect sizes : statistical power, meta-analysis, and the interpretation of research results , 2010 .

[15]  Paul D. Ellis,et al.  The Essential Guide to Effect Sizes: Contents , 2010 .

[16]  P. Dobkin,et al.  Cultivating mindfulness in health care professionals: a review of empirical studies of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). , 2009, Complementary therapies in clinical practice.

[17]  B. I. Van der Heijden,et al.  The Impact of Social Work Environment, Teamwork Characteristics, Burnout, and Personal Factors Upon Intent to Leave Among European Nurses , 2007, Medical care.

[18]  J. Halbesleben,et al.  The construct validity of an alternative measure of burnout: Investigating the English translation of the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory , 2005 .

[19]  Susan D. Wiley,et al.  The effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on nurse stress and burnout: a qualitative and quantitative study, part III. , 2005, Holistic nursing practice.

[20]  A. Weber,et al.  Burnout syndrome: a disease of modern societies? , 2000, Occupational medicine.

[21]  S. Jackson,et al.  The Measurement of experienced burnout , 1981 .

[22]  Jonathon R B Halbesleben,et al.  The role of exhaustion and workarounds in predicting occupational injuries: a cross-lagged panel study of health care professionals. , 2010, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[23]  Katharina Näswall,et al.  Predicting nurse burnout from demands and resources in three acute care hospitals under different forms of ownership: a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. , 2009, International journal of nursing studies.

[24]  R. Rosenthal,et al.  Meta-analysis: recent developments in quantitative methods for literature reviews. , 2001, Annual review of psychology.

[25]  C. Cherniss.  Long-term consequences of burnout: An exploratory study , 1992 .

[26]  H. Freudenberger.  Staff burn-out , 1974 .