A national study of burnout and spiritual health in UK general practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic.

oleh: Ishbel Orla Whitehead, Suzanne Moffatt, Carol Jagger, Barbara Hanratty

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-01-01

Deskripsi

<h4>Objectives</h4>To quantify the burnout and spiritual health of general practitioners (GPs) in the United Kingdom (UK) who worked during the Covid-19 Pandemic.<h4>Design</h4>Online survey, April/May 2021, distributed via emails to general practices, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), Health boards, Clinical Research Networks, professional groups, social media GP groups and networks.<h4>Setting</h4>United Kingdom.<h4>Participants</h4>1318 GPs who had worked in the National Health Service (NHS) during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 -May 2021).<h4>Main outcome measures</h4>Burnout scores, measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) for Medical Personnel; spiritual health, measured using the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being, Non-Illness (FACIT-SP-NI).<h4>Results</h4>19% of surveyed GPs were at the highest risk for burnout, using accepted MBI 'cut off' levels. There was no evidence of a difference in burnout by gender, ethnicity, or length of service. GP burnout was associated with GP spiritual health, regardless of identification with a religion. GPs with low spiritual health were five times more likely to be in the highest risk group for burnout.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Burnout is at crisis levels amongst GPs in the UK NHS. A comprehensive response is required, identifying protective and precipitating factors for burnout. The potentially protective impact of spiritual health merits further investigation.