aged care burnout

Health workers at greater risk of burnout, UK study finds

October 28, 2022 by Madeline Lucre Leave a Comment

A study conducted by Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and King’s College London has found healthcare workers are up to three times more likely to experience burnout when compared to other non-healthcare professionals.

The UK study consisting of three online surveys was conducted over the second half of 2020. It assessed the rates of major depressive disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, insomnia, burnout, and low emotional wellbeing of British healthcare workers.

The results showed a steady decline in UK healthcare professionals’ overall mental health and wellbeing, finding that by the end of 2020, healthcare workers were over three times more likely to experience burnout than those working in non-healthcare settings.

While researchers have suggested that COVID-19 impacted the overall mental health of the general population, the psychosocial hazards in healthcare settings such as the higher workloads, excessive overtime, increased risk of exposure to COVID-19 and the stress of caring for patients meant that healthcare workers were under significantly more stress than people working in other professions.

The study also raises concerns not only about the impact of burnout on healthcare workers’ mental health but also their physical health, citing concerns that if long term burnout persists, it could result in an increase in cases of cardiovascular diseases, including strokes or coronary heart disease, amongst healthcare workers.

Dr Ajay Gupta, study author and Senior Clinical Lecturer at Queen Mary and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Pharmacology and Cardiovascular Medicine, indicated that the study raised significant concerns about the mental health of health workers in the aftermath of COVID-19.

“We should all be worried about the disproportionately high rates of burnout in healthcare professionals, which may persist and lead to an even greater staffing and retention crisis for an already overburdened and underfunded NHS,” Dr Gupta said.

“It’s a problem that no-one seems to want to address, and we could be sleep-walking into a disaster unless we listen to our healthcare workers’ concerns and give them the support they need. Unless we can stop the burnout trend, we could see more mental health and physical consequences such as cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in our doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers.”

New predictor of which personalities are most at risk of burnout being developed

April 29, 2020 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

Researchers looking into the common symptoms of those experiencing burnout have discovered there may be more cardinal symptoms than previously thought.

Perfectionistic and work-focused traits have also been discovered to be the biggest red flags for those developing burnout.

Researchers from UNSW’s School of Psychiatry and Black Dog Institute have carried out two Australian-first studies looking into Burnout. While one has mapped which personality styles could predispose certain people to burning out, the other has developed a check-list of signs and symptoms by people experiencing it.

While burnout is not currently recognised as a standalone clinical diagnosis, the World Health Organisation officially listed burnout as an “occupational syndrome” in the eleventh edition of its International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) last May.

The syndrome can have severe impacts on sufferers’ mental and physical health, while the financial impact of burnout is huge, with stress-related work absenteeism and presenteeism costing Australia $14.81 billion per year.

Burnout is described in the ICD-11, as well as in the broader research literature, as encompassing emotional exhaustion, lack of empathy and reduced performance. However, in one of UNSW’s new studies, the responses from 1,019 people who completed a questionnaire indicated nine other factors commonly affecting people experiencing burnout. These included:

• Anxiety/stress

• Depression and low mood

• Irritability and anger

• Sleep disturbances

• Lack of motivation or passion

• Lack of concentration, memory loss or brain fog

• Withdrawal from others

• Physical symptoms such as aches, headaches, nausea and low libido

• Emotional fragility

Researchers from UNSW’s School of Psychiatry and Black Dog Institute carried out the study with participants from a range of backgrounds including managers, students, teachers, home/child carers, nurse and midwives. While it was open to both male and females to participate, three-quarters of those who took part were female.

“Burnout has become a shorthand for a range of negative experiences, yet relatively little is known about what causes it, how it differs from other psychological conditions, and how to effectively treat it,” said UNSW Scientia Professor Gordon Parker, who led the study.

“One study here shows that there is a more extensive commonality about this condition than has been previously thought. While further studies are required to tease out these questions in greater depth, we can now see that this condition affects different people in the same way regardless of occupational background across a number of factors.”

“The other study also raises intriguing questions about whether more carefree and easy-going people might be less likely to develop burnout due to a ‘protective’ personality style. Further studies are required to tease out these questions in greater depth.”

Participants in the studies completed an anonymous online questionnaire which asked for details of their experiences and potential symptoms, the likely causes of these symptoms, and any helpful strategies to handle them. They were also asked whether they had stopped working due to burnout, and results showed that similar symptom profiles across those who had and hadn’t stopped working due to their burnout.

Researchers hope to use this exploratory study as a launching point for a new research measure for burnout and its clinical markers, to help guide better targeted treatments and clinical guidelines.

“Interestingly, our findings also show that burnout doesn’t exclusively affect those in paid employment,” said Professor Parker.

“By broadening the study’s scope to include those with unpaid home or care duties, we were able to note that burnout is not limited to those exposed to work-related stressors, which suggests burnout may be ‘context free’.”

Researchers are now undertaking a follow-up replication study to further develop their new burnout measure. It will look specifically at clarifying burnout’s cardinal features and precipitating factors, as well as examine burnout’s relationship with depression.

The results of the checklist study are published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. The results of the personality study are published in the Psychiatry Research Journal.

Compassion fatigue: the cost some workers pay for caring

July 9, 2019 by Nurse Uncut Editor Leave a Comment

Health and social workers often choose their profession because they want to help people. But seeing trauma and suffering on a regular basis can have a deep impact on these workers. “Compassion fatigue” is a response to the stress of caring for people at times of crisis and is often referred to as the cost of caring.

Researchers first identified compassion fatigue in the 1970s when they recognised certain psychological symptoms among health care and social service workers. The term “compassion fatigue” was coined in the early 1990s to describe nurses who worked in emergency care and were experiencing symptoms similar to burnout.

Compassion fatigue is now defined as a “combination of physical, emotional, and spiritual depletion associated with caring for people in significant emotional pain and physical distress”. If left untreated, compassion fatigue can cause burnout and ultimately depression.

Who gets compassion fatigue?

The prevalence of compassion fatigue ranges from 7.3% to 40% of workers in intensive care settings and 25% to 70% among inexperienced mental health professionals. The higher prevalence is often seen in health professionals who repeatedly witness and care for people after trauma.

Compassion fatigue can affect anyone in a caring profession: nurses, police officers, mental health workers, counsellors, family therapists, hospice workers, doctors and emergency care workers. It is more common in women because they’re more likely to work in caring roles.

Although prevalence statistics for other professions are not currently available, there is some evidence that lawyers, especially those in criminal, family and juvenile law, also experience compassion fatigue.

Compassion fatigue is more likely to affect inexperienced professionals and people who help others in short-term spurts. These people may not have the same coping mechanisms and debriefing opportunities as those who repeatedly work in trauma and care-giving.

Due to the extensive media coverage of human suffering and worldwide disasters, more people are beginning to report symptoms that mirror those of compassion fatigue.

Essentially, this is indirect exposure to trauma, which can result in emotional, cognitive and behavioural changes in people who are exposed to too much “bad news”. But it is still considered compassion fatigue.

Burnout or compassion fatigue?

Untreated or unmanaged compassion fatigue can lead to burnout, but the two conditions are not the same.

Burnout is related to the job environments in which we work and the stresses attached to those jobs and requirements, such as paperwork or poor supervision, management or support. It is equally common among men and women.

There is a significant overlap between compassion fatigue and burnout symptoms. These include:

decreased concentration
minimisation of one type of loss over another
preoccupation with trauma
withdrawing
isolating
loss of purpose
impaired immune system
bottled-up emotions
substance abuse to mask feelings
mental and physical tiredness
being in denial about problems.

People who experience compassion fatigue or burnout are taking on the issues they witness without an appropriate outlet. They then “store” these issues – like storing toxins inside your body – which then compromises their immune system.

Compassion fatigue often has a quick onset, whereas burnout is a prolonged response to chronic job-related emotional and inter-personal stressors. If untreated, prolonged burnout (three to six months) can lead to depression.

Getting help

If some of the symptoms sound familiar, you can complete a compassion fatigue self-test. Although this won’t replace a medical diagnosis, it may be a useful starting point, especially if further assistance is required. An awareness of the symptoms and their negative effect on your life can also lead to positive change, personal transformation and a new resiliency.

If you think you are showing signs of compassion fatigue, ask for professional supervision or help. If you take time off of work to “reset”, talk to someone about your feelings and experiences to learn how to process the symptoms and feelings.

Employers should be aware compassion fatigue exists and have professional development, training and supervision in place to help employees during and after compassionate-driven work.

There are some things you can do to reduce your risk of developing compassion fatigue:

Have a strong and supportive team around you that you can debrief with both personally and professionally.
Get regular supervision – or at least have someone to talk to. It is vitally important to be able to talk to someone more experienced in the field to explore your feelings and what has occurred. Think of supervision as an information-sharing and event-processing session conducted as a conversation between peers.
Continue to do professional development activities and “grow” personally and professionally. Try to expand your knowledge in various areas rather than being singularly focused. This will help build resilience, broaden your perspective and give you greater experience with different aspects of your work.
When you know things are getting difficult, take a break. If you continue to “work through” it, the fatigue will get worse and burnout will set it.
Start thinking to yourself, when is enough enough? Take positive steps to action change in your life.

If you think you may be experiencing compassion fatigue through social media, watching news and so on, then be sure to switch off, turn off the TV, put down the technology and do something that you enjoy with people you enjoy being around. Refocus on yourself and your life.

Amanda Lambros, Lecturer of Evidence Informed Health Practice, Relationships & Grief & Loss Counsellor, Curtin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.