Prevalence of Burnout among Healthcare Workers in a Tertiary Care Hospital, its Contributing Factor, and Strategies to Overcome Challenges during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: Globally, burnout on healthcare workers leads to negative impact on the individual and organizational levels, which ultimately affects patient care. This study aims to identify the prevalence, contributing factors, and mitigation of burnout among healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Method: This is a web-based cross-sectional study conducted among 177 healthcare workers during Covid-19 pandemic in Dhulikhel Hospital, Kathmandu University Hospital, Nepal, from June to December 2021. The participants were selected using a convenience sampling technique. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory scale (>50) was used to assess the level of burnout among healthcare workers during this crisis, along with contributing factors and mitigation strategies to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. The descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis and post-hoc test were utilized

Result: The prevalence of burnout for healthcare workers was 125 (70.6%). Nurses and healthcare workers, who have previously worked in covid-19 management were having significantly higher level of personal burnout (H= 13.34, p= 0.004) and work related burnout (H=9.78, p=0.02) score. The main concerns were fear of infecting the family members (80.79%), followed by a lack of resources such as oxygen, personal protective equipment (64.97%). The major mitigation strategies were the provision of incentives (77.97%), good hospital management (74.01%), and training for healthcare professionals (67.8%).

Conclusion: Healthcare workers have higher burnout scores in covid -19 pandemic. The study indicated the necessity of employing effective strategies at the individual and institutional level to overcome Covid-19 crises.