ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Survey and Analysis on Status of Occupational Burnout of Medical Staff
Xing Yanfei, Du Gang*
Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province 221003.
 
Abstract: This studies focus to analyze the status of occupational burnout of medical staff to provide an important reference for the promotion of primary healthcare. perform surveys on two second-grade hospitals with Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Suvey (MBI-GS) and ordinary questionnaire. Surgeons enjoy higher emotional failure as well as sense of accomplishment; compared with female staff, male staffs were more likely to obtain the sense of accomplishment; lower-educated staffs were more difficult to obtain the sense of accomplishment; senior staffs were more easily to be emotionally failed. Medical staff were easier to suffer from occupational burnout. More attention should be paid to surgeons, lower-educated and senior staff in the prevention and improvement of the status of occupational burnout.
 
Keywords: Medical staff, occupational burnout, emotional failure, depersonalization, sense of accomplishment.
 
Citation: Yanfei X, et al. Survey and Analysis on Status of Occupational Burnout of Medical Staff. J Gen Neuro 2016; 1(1):
 
 
*Correspondence to:
 
Received:            ; Accepted:               ;Published Online: TBA
 
Introduction
The analysis of occupational burnout^[1] was first carried out by American psychologist Freudenberger, which was proved reasonable later by Maslach who then put forward the model of three dimensions of occupational burnout ^[2]. And theories of emotional failure, depersonalization and sense of accomplishment in the model were favored most. Medical staff were most vulnerable to occupational burnout for their working features of higher risk, strength and devotion. Moreover, occupational burnout exerts negative impact on medical staff. Therefore, the physical and mental health of medical staff is crucial for them to provide excellent healthcare services.
 
Materials and Methods
Doctors and nurses of 140 in a group from two second-grade hospitals in Xuzhou and Yancheng, Jiangsu Province were recruited by cluster random sampling . Total of 116 questionnaires were distributed among the medical staff. From 116 collected copies, only 106 copies were valid leading to effective recovery rate as high as 91.4%. Among, there were 49 male staff (46.2%), 57 female staff (53.8%); 6 staff with senior title (sub-senior and above) (14.83%), 51 staff with intermediate title (attending physician and resident) (35.04%), 16 staff with junior title or below (lower than the resident) (50.13%); 24 staff with education background of or lower than the college degree (22.6%), 71 staff with bachelor’s degree (67.0%) and 11 staff with master’s degree or above (10.4%).
 
Medical staff was assessed with MBI-GS and ordinary questionnaire ^[3]. And the MBI-GS has been divided into three dimensions: emotional failure, depersonalization and sense of accomplishment. Apart from that, the questionnaires include gender, education background, title, department, etc.
 
Statistical Analysis
Data collection and statistical analysis were performed by Excel 2003 and SPSS17.0 statistical software package with general description of the analysis, the single factor analysis of variance etc.
 
Results^[4[H1] ^]
Occupational Burnout Status of Medical Staff in Different Position 
The three dimension of occupational burnout were scored with position as the variable. Medical staffs in different position were different from each other at the aspect of emotional failure and sense of accomplishment, but they were similar in the aspect of depersonalization. It has been further observed that surgeons showed significantly higher scores in emotional failure and sense of accomplishment compared with the other two groups, which indicates that surgeons were more vulnerable to emotional failure however susceptible to sense of accomplishment (Table 1).
 
Occupational Burnout Status of Medical Staff in Different Gender  
The three dimension of occupational burnout were scored with gender as the variable.
Medical staffs in different gender were different from each other at the aspect of sense of accomplishment, but they were the same at the aspect of emotional failure and depersonalization. The results showed that the male staff scored significantly higher in sense of accomplishment compared with the female staff. This indicates that male staffs were more likely to obtain the sense of accomplishment (Table 2).
 
Occupational Burnout Status of Medical Staff with Different Educational Background
The three dimension of occupational burnout were scored with educational background as the variable. Medical staffs with different educational background were different from each other at the aspect of sense of accomplishment, but they were the same at the aspect of emotional failure and depersonalization. This showed that medical staff with master’s degree results in significantly higher scores in sense of accomplishment compared with the other groups, thus indicates that staff with master’s degree were easier to obtain the sense of accomplishment (Table 3).
 
Occupational Burnout Status of Medical Staff with Different Title
The three dimension of occupational burnout were scored with job title as the variable. Medical staffs with different job title but same position were different from each other at the aspect of emotional failure, but they were the same at the aspect of depersonalization and sense of accomplishment. It was observed that medical staff with higher rank produce significantly higher scores in emotional failure compared with the other groups that indicates that staff with higher rank were easier to obtain the sense of accomplishment (Table 4).
 
Discussion
Features of Occupational Burnout
Occupational burnout is a common phenomenon in the medical industry. According to the survey, medical staff were generally at a stage of severe occupational burnout which indicates that medical staff were under high pressure that caused critical depletion of emotion and feelings. Thus, leads to alienation of work and patient apathy. Moreover, their sense of accomplishment reduced and suffering from lack of self-identity.
Position is an important influencing factor in the survey. Compared with physicians and nurses, surgeons suffer from higher degree of emotional failure, however achieved higher degree of sense of accomplishment. This phenomenon might result from the fact that operation was predominant method for disease treatment and curative method. However, increased workload and uncertainty of operations results  does caused the surgeons fatigue and high pressure.
Although it was not significantly different at the aspect of gender, male staffs were vulnerable to work fatigue than female staffs. The sole reason was the male staffs dominates in their departments and bear more pressure. However, this revealed that male staff were easier to get self-identity and sense of accomplishment at work.
Educational background was prime importance in the medical industry. Although occupational burnout bears little distinction in emotional failure and depersonalization, it affects the sense of accomplishment, which showed that medical staffs with higher degree of education was easier to get self-identity and sense of accomplishment out of their knowledge reserved and gradual clinical experience earned.
Job title was significantly important during this analysis. The emotional failure varies among the staff with different job title. And the emotional failure is major problem. As the leader of department, medical staffs with senior title play a key role in their department and hold higher risks and pressure. However, pressure was also the driving force. Therefore, success was the only reason in order to get sense of accomplishment. Depersonalization did not showed significant difference in the analysis however observed to be higher in intermediate staff than in other groups. Intermediate staff were the major part of the medical work. Stronger workload turns to be a crucial cause for their indifferent attitude to the patients.
 
Suggestions
Medical work requires consistent and continues learning. Medical staff should timely adjust themselves to satisfy the social needs^[5]. Surgeons should learn stress management methods to reduce the negative emotion at work and elevate their performance. Female staff should improve their work enthusiasm and work hard to realize their value. In addition, it is necessary for medical staff to improve their educational background, for better knowledge reserve is the basis for better clinical work. Meanwhile, medical staff should pursue to get promotion in their career, which is also an indication of progress and could increase the trust from patients.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
References
1.      Maslach C，Schaufeli WB，Leiter MP. Job burnout. Annu Rev Psychol 2001; 52: 397-422.
2.      Li YX, Wu MZ. Developing the Job Burnout Inventory. Psychological Science 2005; 28(2): 454-457.
3.      Xu L, Xu ZQ, Xu SH. Research on the Physical and Mental Status and Its Related Factors of the Hospital Medical Staff in Hubei Province. Chinese Journal of Social Medicine 2013; 30(2): 104-106.
4.      Wang H, Zhang N. Current Status and Analysis on Occupational Burnout of Doctors. China Journal of Health Psychology 2008; 16(4): 397-399.
5.      Yang P. Discussion on the Current Status and Strategy of Occupational Burnout of Young Doctors [J/CD]. Chinese Journal of Colorectal Disease 2013; 2(1): 39-40.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table
 
Table 1 Occupational Burnout Status of Medical Staff in Different Position      (M+SD)

Project      Emotional Failure  Depersonalization     Sense of Accomplishment

Physician      17.65 ± 4.17         10.10 ± 4.33           21.72 ± 4.69 Surgeons      21.37 ± 4.89         10.44 ± 4.08            24.56 ± 4.28 Nurses        18.84 ± 5.29         11.69 ± 3.99            18.55 ± 4.08 Total          18.97 ± 4.91        10.69 ± 4.18             21.45 ± 4.92 P               0.007              0.238                 0.000

 
 






Table 2 Occupational Burnout Status of Medical Staff in Different Gender     (M+SD)

Project     Emotional Failure    Depersonalization     Sense of Accomplishment

Male         19.96 ± 4.92         10.65 ± 4.24           23.00 ± 5.08 Female       18.12 ± 4.80         10.72 ± 4.18           20.12 ± 4.40 Total         18.97 ± 4.92         10.68±4.19           21.45 ± 4.92   P            0.55                0.936               0.002

 





 
Table 3 Occupational Burnout Status of Medical Staff with Different Educational Background (M+SD)

Project               Emotional Failure      Depersonalization     Sense of Accomplishment

Master’s Degree           19.7 2±3 .88           8.73 ± 4.29               24.90 ± 4.76

Bachelor’s Degree          19.01 ± 4.97          10.85 ± 4.26              21.86 ± 4.53

College Degree            18.43 ± 5.34          11.14 ± 3.75              18.19 ± 4.72

Total                    18.97 ± 4.92           10.69 ± 4.19             21.4 ± 4.92

P                         0.774                0.252                  0.000