<b>Unmasking spiritual void as a predictor of burnout:</b><b> </b><b>A study of health workers during the pandemic in Turkey</b>

Healthcare professionals are facing a crisis of burnout that is receiving increasing attention. The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified interest in this scenario. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of burnout among healthcare workers in a university hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic and to examine the potential impact of lack of spirituality on burnout. In this cross-sectional study, 546 employees were reached and a questionnaire, the Religious and Unspiritual Scale and the Copenhagen Burnout Scale were used to collect data. The study revealed that non-spirituality was a significant predictor of personal burnout (β=1.27; p=0.045). The findings suggest that lack of spirituality may be a potential pathway that complicates recovery for healthcare professionals struggling with burnout. This highlights the need for healthcare organizations to recognize the importance of spiritual health and incorporate it into their employee support programs.</p

Push and Pull Factors of Why Medical Students Want to Leave Türkiye: A Countrywide Multicenter Study

Phenomenon: Physician immigration from other countries is increasing as developed countries continue to be desirable destinations for physicians; however, the determinants of Turkish physicians’ migration decisions are still unclear. Despite its wide coverage in the media and among physicians in Türkiye, and being the subject of much debate, there is insufficient data to justify this attention. With this study, we aimed to investigate the tendency of senior medical students in Türkiye to pursue their professional careers abroad and its related factors. Approach: This cross-sectional study involved 9881 senior medical students from 39 different medical schools in Türkiye in 2022. Besides participants’ migration decision, we evaluated the push and pull factors related to working, social environment and lifestyle in Türkiye and abroad, medical school education inadequacy, and personal insufficiencies, as well as the socioeconomic variables that may affect the decision to migrate abroad. The analyses were carried out with a participation rate of at least 50%. Findings: Of the medical students, 70.7% had emigration intentions. Approximately 60% of those want to stay abroad permanently, and 61.5% of them took initiatives such as learning a foreign language abroad (54.5%) and taking relevant exams (18.9%). Those who wanted to work in the field of Research & Development were 1.37 (95% CI: 1.22–1.54) times more likely to emigrate. The push factor that was related to emigration intention was the “working conditions in the country” (OR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.56–2.28) whereas the “social environment/lifestyle abroad” was the mere pull factor for the tendency of emigration (OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.45–2.06). In addition, the quality problem in medical schools also had a significant impact on students’ decisions (OR: 2.20, 95% CI: 1.83–2.65). Insights: Although the percentage of those who want to emigrate “definitely” was at the same level as in the other developing countries, the tendency to migrate “permanently” was higher in Türkiye. Improving working conditions in the country and increasing the quality of medical faculties seem vital in preventing the migration of physicians

Prevalence of Anosmia in 10.157 Pediatric COVID-19 Cases: Multicenter Study from Turkey.

Introduction: COVID-19-related anosmia is a remarkable and disease-specific finding. With this multicenter cohort study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of anosmia in pediatric cases with COVID-19 from Turkey and make an objective assessment with a smell awareness questionnaire. Material and Methods: This multicenter prospective cohort study was conducted with pediatric infection clinics in 37 centers in 19 different cities of Turkey between October 2020 and March 2021. The symptoms of 10.157 COVID-19 cases 10-18 years old were examined. Age, gender, other accompanying symptoms, and clinical severity of the disease of cases with anosmia and ageusia included in the study were recorded. The cases were interviewed for the smell awareness questionnaire at admission and one month after the illness. Results: Anosmia was present in 12.5% (1.266/10.157) of COVID-19 cases 10-18 years of age. The complete records of 1053 patients followed during the study period were analyzed. The most common symptoms accompanying symptoms with anosmia were ageusia in 885 (84%) cases, fatigue in 534 cases (50.7%), and cough in 466 cases (44.3%). Anosmia was recorded as the only symptom in 84 (8%) of the cases. One month later, it was determined that anosmia persisted in 88 (8.4%) cases. In the smell awareness questionnaire, the score at admission was higher than the score one month later (P < 0.001). Discussion: With this study, we have provided the examination of a large case series across Turkey. Anosmia and ageusia are specific symptoms seen in cases of COVID-19. With the detection of these symptoms, it should be aimed to isolate COVID-19 cases in the early period and reduce the spread of the infection. Such studies are important because the course of COVID-19 in children differs from adults and there is limited data on the prevalence of anosmia