EFFICIENT MEASURES FOR BURNOUT PREVENTION IN PALLIATIVE CARE

Abstract

The term burnout, meaning ”professional exhaustion”, was introduced by Herbert Freudenberger in 1974. On May 21, 2014 , the World Health Assembly, the decisional organ of the World Health Organization, voted the resolution for the integration and development of the capacity of palliative care services as a constituent part of the health systems. The resolution represents a major pace in the development of palliative care at world level, once the ministers responsible for the field took upon themselves - by means of information and training programs - the task of services’ development, mainly at community level, the support from the part of the next of kins, the elaboration of educational programs, of guides and clinical protocols for specialists, of instruments for the monitorization of the quality of services provided, an easier access of patients to medication, as well as partnerships with the civil society. Burnout is a state of emotional, mental and physical overfatigue caused by excessive and prolongued stress. It is installed mainly when the person affected with it feels care-worn and uncapable of fulfilling his/her usual duties. As the stress continues, he/she will come to lose the interest or motivation which made him/her assume a certain position in the organizational hierarchy. The burnout phenomenon includes three components: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of professional accomplishment. The main observations on the phenomenon indicate that, apparently, the burnout level in palliative care is not higher than in other services, such as intensive therapy or surgery. Nevertheless, mention should be made of a characteristic of the palliative care services which influences the burnout level, namely the emotional relation created between the patient and the medical team, as a result of the prolongued duration of the care service