Burnout of Medical Workers in Astana, Kazakhstan: Prevalence and Associated Factors.

Abstract

Burnout is a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion that arises as a result of being involved in emotionally demanding work situations. It has been reported that burnout is associated with high employee turnover, absenteeism, and poor performance. Research suggests that medical workers are more susceptible to burnout due to the challenging nature of their work, compared to other occupations. Health problems, including incapacity to deal with stress and development of major diseases, shortage of medical workforce due to burnt out specialists leaving the field, reduced quality of care and increased risk of medical errors are the risks associated with burnout in medical workers. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify prevalence of burnout among medical workers in Astana, Kazakhstan using Copenhagen Burnout Inventory questionnaire, to determine associated factors, and to give recommendations based on the findings. The final sample of data collected from an online survey included 363 responses in total. Prevalence of high personal burnout showed to be 82.1% among Astana medical workers, high work-related burnout – 66.9%, and high patient-related burnout – 53.1%. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that self-rated health status and overwork were the factors statistically significantly associated with personal burnout; age, self-rated health status and overwork were associated with work-related burnout; and overwork was associated with patient-related burnout. It is recommended that healthcare organizations promote healthy lifestyle among their workers, and trainings on burnout could be provided for staff as a measure of identifying and preventing burnout.