Increase of burnout among emergency department professionals due to emotional exhaustion during the SARS-Cov2 pandemic: Evolution from 2016 to 2021

The objective is to establish there have been any significant changes in the evolution of levels of burnout and empathy at the different Emergency Department in our region, bearing the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic. This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in a healthy region between November 2020 and January 2021. Lleida emergency care centers. All the doctors and nurses of the health were contacted by email. Empathy was measured using the Spanish version of the Jefferson scale of physician empathy. Burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) in the version validated in Spanish. Sociodemographic data were also recorded. We compared the data with 2016 results. A total of 159 professionals agreed to participate in this study. A significant increase in the MBI score was observed in the 2020 to 2021 sample (39.5 vs 49.7), mostly due to an increase in the MBI-EE (21.5 vs 28.5), as well as an increase in the Jefferson scale of physician empathy score (112 vs 116). (P = .039). There were no differences when analyzing the association between professions (nurses or doctors) or years worked, burnout, and empathy. For 2020 to 2021, the 41 to 50 years age group showed the highest burnout (MBI score). Emergency department practitioners suffered more burnout compared to 2016, especially due to emotional exhaustion (P < .001). Despite practitioners’ improved degree of empathy, which had been described as being preventative against burnout, during the COVID-19 pandemic, over-involvement may have led to empathic stress and emotional exhaustion, giving rise to greater burnout

La empatía médica, ¿nace o se hace? Evolución de la empatía en estudiantes de medicina

Introducción y objetivos: La empatía es una de las competencias básicas en el aprendizaje de la medicina, relacionándose con mejor relación médico-paciente, mejor competencia profesional y menor estrés profesional. Algunos estudios en el ámbito anglosajón muestran una disminución de la empatía durante el aprendizaje de la medicina. El presente estudio pretende medir el grado de empatía en estudiantes de medicina de nuestro medio, comparándolo con una serie de variables sociodemográficas y su evolución durante los estudios de medicina. Material y método: Se administra el cuestionario TECA de medida de empatía, que mide 4 subescalas (comprensión empática, adopción de perspectivas, alegría empática y estrés empático), así como un cuestionario sociodemográfico, a 191 estudiantes de 1.◦, 3.◦ y segundo ciclo (4.◦ y 5.◦) de Medicina de la Facultad de Medicina de Lleida. Resultados: En nuestra muestra se aprecia una progresión de la empatía durante los cursos de medicina. Presentan mayor empatía las estudiantes femeninas, también mayor estrés empático. Los estudiantes masculinos presentan menor empatía, menor progresión de esta durante los cursos y menor estrés empático. Presentan menor empatía los estudiantes que prefieren la serie House y los que tienen familiares médicos. Presentan mayor empatía los estudiantes que han realizado voluntariado, y los que han tenido un amigo enfermo. No se halla relación entre empatía y especialidad deseada. Conclusiones: Existen diversas variables que se relacionan con mayor empatía en estudiantes de medicina: mujeres, estudiantes de cursos avanzados, vivencias cercanas de enfermedades graves y los implicados en actividades de voluntariad

Occupational burnout and empathy influence blood pressure control in primary care physicians

Background: Good physician-patient communication can favor the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits, which is essential in high blood pressure (BP) management. More empathic physicians tend to have lower burnout and better communication skills. We analyzed the association between burnout and empathy among primary care physicians and nurses and investigated the influence on BP control performance. Methods: Descriptive study conducted in 2014 investigating burnout and empathy levels in 267 primary care physicians and nurses and BP control data for 301,657 patients under their care. We administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy and defined good BP control as a systolic BP <130 mmHg. Results: Low burnout and high empathy were observed in 58.8% and 33.7% of practitioners, respectively. Burnout and empathy were significantly negatively associated (p < 0.009). Practitioners with high empathy and low burnout had significantly better BP control and performance than those with low empathy and high burnout (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Low burnout and high empathy were significantly associated with improved BP control and performance, possibly in relation to better physician/nurse-patient communication. Keywords: Hypertension, Primary Care, Bioethics, Doctor-Patient Relation, Faculty Developmen

Association between low empathy and high burnout among primary care physicians and nurses in Lleida, Spain

Background: Burnout is a growing problem among healthcare professionals and may be mitigated and even prevented by measures designed to promote empathy and resilience. Objectives: We studied the association between burnout and empathy in primary care practitioners in Lleida, Spain and investigated possible differences according to age, sex, profession, and place of practice (urban versus rural). Methods: All general practitioners (GPs) and family nurses in the health district of Lleida (population 366 000) were asked by email to anonymously complete the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) between May and July 2014. Tool consistency was evaluated by Cronbach’s a, the association between empathy and burnout by Spearman’s correlation coefficient, and the association between burnout and empathy and sociodemographic variables by the v2 test. Results: One hundred and thirty-six GPs and 131 nurses (52.7% response rate) from six urban and 16 rural practices participated (78.3% women); 33.3% of respondents had low empathy, while 3.7% had high burnout. The MBI and JSPE were correlated (P<.001) and low burnout was associated with high empathy (P<.05). Age and sex had no influence on burnout or empathy. Conclusion: Although burnout was relatively uncommon in our sample, it was associated with low levels of empathy. This finding and our observation of lower empathy levels in rural settings require further investigation

Descriptive study of association between quality of care and empathy and burnout in primary care

The doctor-patient relationship is a crucial aspect of primary-care practice Research on associations between quality of care provision and burnout and empathy in a primary care setting could improve this relationship.Language revision and translation was done thanks to economic support of the Primary Care Research Instiute of Catalunya (IDIAP)