West Afr J Med. 2023 Oct 31;40(10):1096-1106.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Burnout remains a crucial occupational health challenge to healthcare professionals given its immediate and remote harmful effects. Doctors and nurses are highly susceptible to burnout due to the essence and demands of their services. The study aimed to establish and compare the prevalence of burnout among doctors and nurses working at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Southern Nigeria.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a comparative cross-sectional study among 553 doctors and nurses at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, South-South Nigeria. Study participants were selected by a stratified random sampling technique. A pretested, self-administered MBI – Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel – MBI-HSS (MP) was used for data collection and analysed with IBM Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) software version 23. The Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were applied with a statistical significance level set at α<0.05.
RESULTS: The mean ages for doctors and nurses were 37.1 ± 5.3 and 39.0 ± 9.2 respectively (p=0.003). Burnout prevalence among doctors was 9.7% compared to 5.5% among nurses (p =0.062). Out of 553 respondents, 247 (46.7%) had high emotional exhaustion (EE), 70 (12.7%) had high depersonalization (DP), and 342 (61.9%) had low personal accomplishments (PA). Furthermore, 132 (47.3%) doctors had high EE, 43 (15.4%) had high DP and 159 (57%) had low PA. While 115 (42%) nurses had high EE, 27 (9.9%) had high DP and 183 (66.8%) had a low PA (p=0.041). Excessive workload (p=0.042) and lengthy years spent in a workplace position (p=0.002) were significantly associated with burnout among doctors compared to family size (p=0.045) and workplace support or community (p=0.005) among nurses.
CONCLUSION: The study found burnout prevalence to be higher among doctors than nurses. Work-related factors contributed significantly to burnout development. Recreating or modifying workplace environments is essential to mitigating the adverse effects of burnout among healthcare workers.
PMID:37906955
