Survey and Analysis on Status of Occupational Burnout of Medical Staff
Xing Yanfei   Du Gang*
(Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province 221003  *corresponding author)
 
[Abstract] Aim: analyze the status of occupational burnout of medical staff to provide an important reference for the promotion of primary healthcare. Method: perform surveys on two second-grade hospitals with MBI-GS and ordinary questionnaire. Results: Surgeons enjoy higher emotional failure as well as sense of accomplishment; compared with female staff, male staff are more likely to obtain the sense of accomplishment; lower-educated staff are more difficult to obtain the sense of accomplishment; senior staff are more easily to be emotionally failed. Conclusion: Medical staff are 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.
 
[Key words] Medical staff, occupational burnout, emotional failure, depersonalization, sense of accomplishment
 
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 are 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.
 

1. Objects and Methods

1.1 Objects
140 doctors and nurses from two second-grade hospitals in Xuzhou and Yancheng, Jiangsu Province were taken as objects by cluster random sampling. 116 questionnaires were collected with 106 effective copies, making the 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%).

1. Methods

Assess medical staff with MBI-GS and ordinary questionnaire ^[3]. And the MBI-GS has been divided into three dimensions: emotional failure, depersonalization and sense of accomplishment. Generally speaking, the questionnaires include gender, education background, title, department, etc.

1. Statistical Methods

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.
 

2. Results ^[4]

2.1 Occupational Burnout Status of Medical Staff in Different Position 
The three dimension of occupational burnout were scored with position as the variable. Medical staff in different position were different from each other at the aspect of emotional failure and sense of accomplishment, but they were the same at the aspect of depersonalization. It has been further found: surgeons enjoy significantly higher scores in emotional failure and sense of accomplishment compared with the other two groups, which indicates that surgeons are more vulnerable to emotional failure but easier to get sense of accomplishment (see Table.1).

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

 

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2. Occupational Burnout Status of Medical Staff in Different Gender  

The three dimension of occupational burnout were scored with gender as the variable. Medical staff 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. It has been further found: male staff enjoy significantly higher scores in sense of accomplishment compared with the female staff, which indicates that male staff are more likely to obtain the sense of accomplishment (see Table.2).
 

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

 
 





2.3 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 staff 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. It has been further found: medical staff with master’s degree enjoy significantly higher scores in sense of accomplishment compared with the other groups, which indicates that staff with master’s degree are easier to obtain the sense of accomplishment (see Table.3).
 

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

Project          Emotional Failure      Depersonalization        Sense of Accomplishment

Master’s Degree     19.72±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                 21.45±4.92 P                 0.774                0.252                      0.000

 

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2. Occupational Burnout Status of Medical Staff with Different Title

The three dimension of occupational burnout were scored with title as the variable. Medical staff with different title 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 has been further found: medical staff with higher title enjoy significantly higher scores in emotional failure compared with the other groups, which indicates that staff with higher title are easier to obtain the sense of accomplishment (see Table.4).

Table. 4  Occupational Burnout Status of Medical Staff with Different Title   (M+SD)

Project         Emotional Failure      Depersonalization        Sense of Accomplishment

Junior and Below    16.38±4.11          9.25±5.00                  21.06±3.70 Intermediate        19.63±4.26          10.65±4.14                 23.04±4.88 Senior             21.00±8.07          9.33±2.07                  25.00±5.02 Total              19.03±4.77         10.23±4.22                   22.77±4.71 P                 0.031              0.448                        0.166

 

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3. Discussion

3.1 Features of Occupational Burnout
Occupational burnout is a common phenomenon in the medical industry. According to the survey, medical staff are generally at a stage of severe occupational burnout which indicates that medical staff are under enormous pressure, resulting in serious loss of emotion. As a result, they are cold and detached with their work and patients. Moreover, their sense of accomplishment reduces and they are suffering from lack of self-identity.
Position is an important influencing factor in the survey. Compared with physicians and nurses, surgeons suffer from higher level of emotional failure, but enjoy higher sense of accomplishment. This phenomenon might result from the fact that operation is still the major method for disease treatment and curing. However, strong workload and uncertainty after operations always make the surgeons tired and with high pressure.
Although it is not significantly different at the aspect of gender, male staff are generally easier to get tired than female staff. That is mainly because male staff often play leading roles in their departments and bear more pressure. However, that is why male staff are easier to get self-identity and sense of accomplishment at work.
Educational background is more and more important in the medical industry. Although occupational burnout bears little distinction in emotional failure and depersonalization, it affects the sense of accomplishment, which shows that medical staff with higher degree was easier to get self-identity and sense of accomplishment out of their knowledge reserve and accumulating clinical experience.
Title is significantly important during this analysis. The emotional failure varies among the staff with different title. And the emotional failure becomes more and more serious. As the leader of department, medical staff with senior title play a key role in their department and bear the greatest risks and highest pressure. However, pressure is also the driving force. Therefore, success out of it makes people feel better, i.e. makes people easier to get sense of accomplishment. Depersonalization did not show significant difference in the analysis. But it was much higher of the intermediate staff than the other groups. Intermediate staff are the major part of the medical work. Stronger workload turns to be a crucial cause for their indifferent attitude to the patients.
 

3. Suggestions

Medical work requires consistent 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, promoting 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 RevPsychol, 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.