According to a recent poll, after the Covid-19 outbreak, more than 70% of doctors in Ireland have suffered burn-out.
A psychiatric syndrome known as burn-out comprises emotional exhaustion, a sense of cynicism and detachment from one’s work, as well as a feeling of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment.
1,082 doctors responded to an IMO survey of members conducted between December 2020 and January 2021. Of those, 43% were general practitioners, 35% were non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs), 13% were consultants, 5% were in public health, 1% were in community medicine, and 3% were unclassified as other.
The participants were evenly distributed across all age groups, with 56% of women and 47% of men working full-time. Although 74% of respondents said they were in excellent overall health, 90% said they had a mental health issue connected to or exacerbated by their jobs, and 79% said the pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health.
Three out of five doctors were unhappy with their work-life balance, and 85% of them thought the pandemic had a negative impact on it.
Burnout was determined in the survey using the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OBI). 70.5% of respondents were determined to be at a high rate of burnout, which was highest amongst NCHDs at 77.9% and public health doctors at 79.6%.
The co-authors of the study, Burnout in Doctors Practising in Ireland Post Covid-19, published in this month’s Irish Medical Journal said: “The main concerns of doctors following the pandemic were staffing shortages, backlog of waiting patients and the impact on personal health and wellbeing.
“Workload was found to have a large impact on burnout for doctors in the study with a broad range of respondents, 21% of consultants to 65% of public medicine doctors, indicating that their working week has been extended by 9+ hours.”
According to the authors, burnout is not a medical disease but rather an occupational phenomena that must be addressed with a planned, successful organisational approach.