Burnout in health care workers during the fourth wave of COVID-19: A cross sectional study from Pakistan

Shoaib Ahmad; Sadia Yaqoob; Sifwa Safdar; Huzaifa Ahmad Cheema; Zarmina Islam; Nida Iqbal; Zoaib Habib Tharwani; Sarya Swed; Mohammad Soban Ijaz; Majeeb Ur Rehman; Abia Shahid; Ufaq Tahir; Shkaib Ahmad; Wajeeha Bilal; Mohammad Yasir Essar; Saleem Iqbal; Zafar Ali Choudry

doi:10.1016/j.amsu.2022.104326

Burnout in health care workers during the fourth wave of COVID-19: A cross sectional study from Pakistan

Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2022 Aug:80:104326. doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2022.104326. Epub 2022 Aug 7.

Authors

Shoaib Ahmad^{1

2}, Sadia Yaqoob³, Sifwa Safdar⁴, Huzaifa Ahmad Cheema⁵, Zarmina Islam⁶, Nida Iqbal⁷, Zoaib Habib Tharwani⁶, Sarya Swed⁸, Mohammad Soban Ijaz¹, Majeeb Ur Rehman¹, Abia Shahid⁵, Ufaq Tahir⁹, Shkaib Ahmad¹⁰, Wajeeha Bilal⁶, Mohammad Yasir Essar¹¹, Saleem Iqbal¹², Zafar Ali Choudry¹³

Affiliations

¹ Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
² DHQ Teaching Hospital, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
³ Jinnah Medical and Dental College, Pakistan.
⁴ Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Medicine, King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Pakistan.
⁶ Faculty of Medicine, Dow Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Pakistan.
⁷ Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Medical College, Mirpur AJK, Pakistan.
⁸ Faculty of Medicine, Aleppo University, Aleppo, Syria.
⁹ J.S.S. Medical College, Mysore, India.
¹⁰ Dera Ghazi Khan Medical College, DG Khan, Pakistan.
¹¹ Kabul University of Medical Sciences, Kabul, Afghanistan.
¹² Department of Surgery, Allied Hospital Faisalabad, Pakistan.
¹³ Faisalabad Medical University, Faisalabad, Pakistan.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the burnout among the healthcare workers during the fourth wave of COVID-19.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, burn out was measured in health care professionals using the MBI scale inventory during the fourth wave of COVID-19. Age, gender, marital status, having children, hospital, job type, experience, and workload, as well as the severity of burnout in each subscale, were all measured. We used the chi-square test to detect the difference between the level of burnout and other demographic variables, and a multiple logistic regression test was used to define the predicted correlation between the high level of burnout and the risk factors. Odds ratios and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported. A p-value of less than 0.05 indicated a statistically significant outcome.

Results: Out of 776 healthcare workers who participated in our study, 468 (63.2%), 161 (21.7%) and 112 (15.1%) participants experienced low, moderate and high levels of emotional exhaustion, respectively. For the depersonalization subscale, 358 (48.3%), 188 (25.4%) and 195 (26.3%) people suffered from low, moderate, and high levels of depersonalization, respectively while 649 (87.6%), 40 (5.4%) and 52 (7.0%) respondents had low, moderate and high levels in the personal accomplishment subscale, respectively.

Conclusion: During the fourth wave of COVID-19, the healthcare workers reported increased level of burnout overall possibly due to the long term physical and mental impacts that the pandemic has had over the time. Moreover, healthcare workers in Pakistan were more prone to burnout as compared to other countries.