Burnout and job satisfaction among physicians working in urologic departments who immigrated to Germany, taking into account the income structure of their country of origin

Kay-Patrick Braun; Mohammad Shaar; Markus Herrmann; Antje Gumz; Sabine D Brookman-May; Elisabeth Bartolf; Bara Barakat; Christian Gilfrich; Matthias May; Birte Pantenburg

doi:10.3233/WOR-220602

Burnout and job satisfaction among physicians working in urologic departments who immigrated to Germany, taking into account the income structure of their country of origin

Work. 2023;76(2):611-621. doi: 10.3233/WOR-220602.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of General Practice, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
² Department of Urology, St. Elisabeth Hospital Straubing, Brothers of Mercy Hospital, Straubing, Germany.
³ Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Psychology Berlin (PHB), Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
⁵ Department of Urology, Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU), Campus Grosshadern, Munich, Germany.
⁶ Janssen Pharma Research and Development, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁷ Department of Urology, Ingolstadt Hospital, Ingolstadt, Germany.
⁸ Department of Urology and Pediatric Urology, Hospital Viersen, Viersen, Germany.
⁹ Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.

PMID: 36911965
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-220602

Abstract

Background: Studies are available on physician burnout and job satisfaction (JS) in relation to the specific income structure of the country of residence. However, no studies exist that investigate burnout of immigrated physicians taking into account the income structure of their country of origin (IS-COO) as well as duration of immigration.

Objective: To determine the influence of IS-COO on JS, income satisfaction, and critical burnout thresholds in the domains of emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP) and reduction in personal accomplishment (RPA) among urologists with a migrant background working at German hospitals.

Methods: A questionnaire (Survey-Monkey®/101-items) was conducted among urologists of German hospitals with a migrant background. The online questionnaire was open for study participation from 1 August to 31 October 2020. The study included all physicians with a migration background who were born in a country other than Germany and were currently employed in a German department of urology. Physician burnout (Maslach-Burnout-Inventory) and JS were assessed using validated instruments. The influence of IS-COO and different covariates on the designated endpoints was tested using multivariate-models.

Results: 96 urologists with a median stay in Germany of 7 years participated and were stratified according to low (LIC/41.7%), middle (MIC/36.5%) and high (HIC/21.9%) income based on IS-COO. No significant influence of IS-COO on critical thresholds in each burnout domain could be found. Of urologists from LIC, MIC and HIC, 42%, 59% and 57%, respectively, showed rather or extreme JS (p = .446). There was also no significant difference between groups in income satisfaction (p = .838). However, in multivariate-models, duration of stay in Germany (≥7 vs. <7 years) had significant effects on DP (OR: 0.28, p = .038) and RPA (OR: 0.09, p = .014), but not on EE and JS.

Conclusion: IS-COO has no impact on burnout and JS among urologists who immigrated to Germany. Similarly, income satisfaction in the country of residence is not influenced by IS-COO.

Keywords: Clinicians; Maslach Burnout-Inventory; depersonalization; emotional exhaustion; personal accomplishment; urologists.