Burnout in the Emergency Department hospital staff at Cork University Hospital

Peter Chernoff, Comfort Adedokun, Iomhar O’Sullivan, John McManus, Ann Payne

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background and aims: Healthcare professionals are exposed to high levels of stress in the course of their profession and are particularly susceptible to experiencing burnout. In the USA, burnout among physicians is highly prevalent, exceeding that of other workers. Little literature has been published describing burnout prevalence in the context of the Irish emergency healthcare population. We conducted a survey to determine burnout in the Emergency Department hospital staff at Cork University Hospital (CUH). Methods: This is a prospective inclusive cross-sectional study assessing burnout with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI). Over 90 staff (physicians, nurses, administrators, radiographers, care assistants, and porters) participated. Provider demographic differences were documented and comparisons of burnout were made between this study population and previous international studies. Results: Sixty-three percent of administrators (8), 100% of care assistants (3), 78% of nurses (50), 70% of physicians (23), 67% of porters (3), and 80% of radiographers (10) met the criteria for burnout (75% overall). Burnout was significantly associated with a history of depression (p = 0.030). The burnout rates were not significantly different between professions (p = 0.77), age groups (p = 0.078), years working in the ED (p = 0.16), or gender (p = 0.46). Discussion and conclusions: Burnout is very common in the Emergency Department at CUH. Approximately three out of four staff met the cutoff for burnout. Self-reported depression was also significantly associated with burnout.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)667-674
Number of pages8
JournalIrish Journal of Medical Science
Volume188
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2019

Keywords

  • Administrator
  • Burnout
  • Care assistant
  • Depression
  • Emergency department
  • Emergency medicine
  • Nurse
  • Oldenburg Burnout Inventory
  • Physician
  • Porter
  • Psychology
  • Radiographer
  • Staff support

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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