Burnout level and its Associated Factors among Physicians Working in Public Hospitals of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Burnout is a common syndrome seen in healthcare workers, particularly physicians who are exposed to a high level of stress at work; it includes emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment. Burnout among physicians has garnered significant attention because of the negative impact it renders on patient care and medical personnel. Physicians who had high burnout levels reportedly committed more medical errors. Objectives: To assess level of burnout and its associated factors among physicians working in public hospitals of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional State, 2017. Methods: Institution based cross–sectional study was conducted using structured selfadministered questionnaires from March 13 to April 11, 2017. Maslach’s Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey was used to measure burnout among physicians in all public hospitals of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional State. Collected data were entered in to Epi Data version 3.1, and transferred to SPSS version 21 software. Descriptive statistics, bi-variate and multivariable linear regression analysis were performed. P-value less than 0.05 was used to determine an association between independent and dependent variables. Result: Four hundred ninety one respondents were participated with a response rate of 91%. Burnout level was measured in three dimensions including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment with 65.2% (95% CI: 61.1, 69.7) high, 85.1% (95% CI: 81.7, 87.9) high and 91% (95% CI: 88.6, 93.3) low respectively. The burnout level is high in all the three dimensions. Age (β: -0.007, 95% CI: -0.011, -0.003), receiving recognition from hospital managers (β: -0.047, 95% CI: -0.091, -0.004) and monthly salary (β: -0.012, 95% CI: -0.016, -0.007) were negatively associated with emotional exhaustion score. On the other hand, number of patients observed per week (β: 0.001, 95% CI: 0.001, 0.003) was positively associated with emotional exhaustion score. Age (β: -0.011, 95% CI: -0.015, -0.006), working in primary hospital (β: -0.068, 95% CI: -0.102, -0.033), having any support from family and organization (β: -0.074, 95% CI: -0.104, -0.044), monthly salary (β: -0.014, 95% CI: -0.019, -0.008) and getting professional training (β: -0.032, 95% CI: -0.062, -0.003) were negatively associated with depersonalization score. Monthly salary (β: 0.004, 95% CI: 0.001, 0.007) was positively associated with personal accomplishment score. Whereas working in primary hospital (β: -0.077, 95% CI: - 0.106, -0.049) was negatively associated with personal accomplishment score. Conclusion: Burnout was measured in three dimensions and it was found in a high level among physicians currently working in public hospitals of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples region. Receiving recognition from hospital managers, age, working in primary hospital, monthly salary, having any support from family and organization, and getting professional training can possibly minimize the level of burnout among physicians in the region. On the contrary, increase in the number of patients observed per week increases burnout. All the concerned bodies like southern nations, nationalities and peoples’ regional state health bureau, federal ministry of health and hospital managers should work collaboratively to decrease the risk of burnout by addressing the contributing factors identified by this study.