Burnout among physicians working in a pandemic hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. 2021

Ferat Buran, and Zeynep Altın
Sanliurfa Branch Office, The Council of Forensic Medicine, The Ministry of Justice, Sanliurfa, Republic of Turkey. Electronic address: cudiferat@hotmail.com.

This study aimed to investigate burnout among physicians during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research was conducted in a pandemic hospital which is among the largest hospital complexes in Turkey. Internal medicine physicians actively working in many departments under the severe conditions in the diagnosis and treatment processes were included. Among the physicians constituting the study population, residents, attendings, and subspecialists from different fields were included. These physicians were working in the quarantine services, inpatient services, intensive care units, and polyclinics. A short and easy face-to-face survey, in which included questions on demographic information, medicolegal subjects, and questions from the Maslach Burnout Inventory, was used to collect data. While 58.2% of the physicians stated that they were extremely worried about malpractice in the pandemic period, 82.1% stated they needed training on medicolegal subjects, and 25.4% stated they were exposed to violence during work. Three sub-dimensions within the burnout inventory were compared with other parameters. The Cronbach alpha value was found highly reliable in the evaluation of the answers' internal consistency. The notable significance of burnout was interesting regarding physicians' anxiety on medicolegal issues and exposure to violence (p < 0.05). The findings obtained in this study suggest that healthcare workers' motivations will increase if they feel valued, their working conditions have been improved, and if they are in mentally well. This mental wellness may contribute to fighting public health crises such as a pandemic more efficiently with the lowest number of casualties.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007388 Internal Medicine A medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the internal organ systems of adults. General Internal Medicine,Medicine, Internal,Internal Medicine, General,Medicine, General Internal
D008297 Male Males
D008318 Malpractice Failure of a professional person, a physician or lawyer, to render proper services through reprehensible ignorance or negligence or through criminal intent, especially when injury or loss follows. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed) Professional Negligence,Negligence,Negligence, Professional,Professional Negligences
D008875 Middle Aged An adult aged 45 - 64 years. Middle Age
D010820 Physicians Individuals licensed to practice medicine. Physician
D003430 Cross-Sectional Studies Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time. Disease Frequency Surveys,Prevalence Studies,Analysis, Cross-Sectional,Cross Sectional Analysis,Cross-Sectional Survey,Surveys, Disease Frequency,Analyses, Cross Sectional,Analyses, Cross-Sectional,Analysis, Cross Sectional,Cross Sectional Analyses,Cross Sectional Studies,Cross Sectional Survey,Cross-Sectional Analyses,Cross-Sectional Analysis,Cross-Sectional Study,Cross-Sectional Surveys,Disease Frequency Survey,Prevalence Study,Studies, Cross-Sectional,Studies, Prevalence,Study, Cross-Sectional,Study, Prevalence,Survey, Cross-Sectional,Survey, Disease Frequency,Surveys, Cross-Sectional
D003861 Depersonalization State in which an individual perceives or experiences a sensation of unreality concerning the self or the environment; it is seen in disorders such as schizophrenia, affection disorders, organic mental disorders, and personality disorders. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed.) Depersonalization Disorder,Derealization,Depersonalization Disorders,Depersonalizations,Derealizations,Disorder, Depersonalization,Disorders, Depersonalization
D005260 Female Females
D006761 Hospitals Institutions with an organized medical staff which provide medical care to patients. Hospital
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man

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