IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i5p4598-d1088241.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Physician’s Burnout during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Abdulmajeed A. Alkhamees

    (Department of Medicine, Unayzah College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Unayzah 52571, Saudi Arabia)

  • Moath S. Aljohani

    (Department of Family and Community Medicine, Unayzah College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Unayzah 52571, Saudi Arabia)

  • Simindokht Kalani

    (Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan 8174673441, Iran)

  • Amira Mohammed Ali

    (Department of Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Alexandria 5424041, Egypt)

  • Fahad Almatham

    (Department of Medicine, Unayzah College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Unayzah 52571, Saudi Arabia)

  • Afnan Alwabili

    (Department of Medicine, Unayzah College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Unayzah 52571, Saudi Arabia)

  • Naif Abdullah Alsughier

    (Department of Medicine, Unayzah College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Unayzah 52571, Saudi Arabia)

  • Thomas Rutledge

    (VA San Diego Healthcare System, Department of Psychiatry, Psychology Service, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA 92093, USA)

Abstract

The burnout rate among physicians is expected to be higher during COVID-19 period due to the additional sources of physical and emotional stressors. Throughout the current COVID-19 pandemic, numerous studies have evaluated the impacts of COVID-19 on physicians’ burnout, but the reported results have been inconsistent. This current systematic review and meta-analysis aims to assess and estimate the epidemiology of burnout and the associated risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic among physicians. A systematic search for studies targeting physicians’ burnout was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, Cochrane COVID-19 registry, and pre-print services (PsyArXiv and medRχiv) for English language studies published within the time period of 1 January 2020 to 1 September 2021. Search strategies resulted in 446 possible eligible studies. The titles and abstracts of these studies were screened, which resulted in 34 probable studies for inclusion, while 412 studies were excluded based on the predetermined inclusion criteria. These 34 studies went through a full-text screening for eligibility, which resulted in 30 studies being included in the final reviews and subsequent analyses. Among them, the prevalence of physicians’ burnout rate ranged from 6.0–99.8%. This wide variation could be due to the heterogeneity among burnout definitions, different applied assessment tools, and even cultural factors. Further studies may consider other factors when assessing burnout (e.g., the presence of a psychiatric disorders, other work-related and cultural factors). In conclusion, a consistent diagnostic indices for the assessment of burnout is required to enable consistent methods of scoring and interpretation.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdulmajeed A. Alkhamees & Moath S. Aljohani & Simindokht Kalani & Amira Mohammed Ali & Fahad Almatham & Afnan Alwabili & Naif Abdullah Alsughier & Thomas Rutledge, 2023. "Physician’s Burnout during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-11, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:4598-:d:1088241
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/4598/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/4598/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicola Magnavita & Paolo Maurizio Soave & Walter Ricciardi & Massimo Antonelli, 2020. "Occupational Stress and Mental Health among Anesthetists during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-14, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ginevra Malta & Fulvio Plescia & Stefania Zerbo & Maria Gabriella Verso & Serena Matera & Alenka Skerjanc & Emanuele Cannizzaro, 2024. "Work and Environmental Factors on Job Burnout: A Cross-Sectional Study for Sustainable Work," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-12, April.
    2. Mark McEvoy & Gabriel Caccaviello & Angela Crombie & Timothy Skinner & Stephen J. Begg & Peter Faulkner & Anne McEvoy & Kevin Masman & Laura Bamforth & Carol Parker & Evan Stanyer & Amanda Collings & , 2024. "Health and Wellbeing of Regional and Rural Australian Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Baseline Cross-Sectional Findings from the Loddon Mallee Healthcare Worker COVID-19 Study—A Prosp," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(5), pages 1-30, May.
    3. Patricia K. Palmer & Zainab Siddiqui & Miranda A. Moore & George H. Grant & Charles L. Raison & Jennifer S. Mascaro, 2024. "Hospital Chaplain Burnout, Depression, and Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(7), pages 1-12, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicola Magnavita & Paolo Maurizio Soave & Massimo Antonelli, 2021. "Prolonged Stress Causes Depression in Frontline Workers Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study in a COVID-19 Hub-Hospital in Central Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-13, July.
    2. Sultan Ayoub Meo & Joud Mohammed Alkhalifah & Nouf Faisal Alshammari & Wejdan Saud Alnufaie, 2021. "Comparison of Generalized Anxiety and Sleep Disturbance among Frontline and Second-Line Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-11, May.
    3. Jade Sheen & Elizabeth M. Clancy & Julie Considine & Alison Dwyer & Phillip Tchernegovski & Anna Aridas & Brian En Chyi Lee & Andrea Reupert & Leanne Boyd, 2022. "“Did You Bring It Home with You?” A Qualitative Investigation of the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Victorian Frontline Healthcare Workers and Their Families," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-20, April.
    4. Cristina Civilotti & Daniela Acquadro Maran & Sergio Garbarino & Nicola Magnavita, 2022. "Hopelessness in Police Officers and Its Association with Depression and Burnout: A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-12, April.
    5. Kelly Bourgoin Boucher & Hans Ivers & Caroline Biron, 2024. "Mechanisms Explaining the Longitudinal Effect of Psychosocial Safety Climate on Work Engagement and Emotional Exhaustion among Education and Healthcare Professionals during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(6), pages 1-20, May.
    6. Nicola Magnavita & Luca Mele & Igor Meraglia & Marco Merella & Maria Eugenia Vacca & Anna Cerrina & Maddalena Gabriele & Marcella Labella & Maria Teresa Soro & Simona Ursino & Carmela Matera, 2022. "The Impact of Workplace Violence on Headache and Sleep Problems in Nurses," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-12, October.
    7. César Fernández-de-las-Peñas & Domingo Palacios-Ceña & Víctor Gómez-Mayordomo & María L. Cuadrado & Lidiane L. Florencio, 2021. "Defining Post-COVID Symptoms (Post-Acute COVID, Long COVID, Persistent Post-COVID): An Integrative Classification," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-9, March.
    8. Dongsheng Zhu & Jinyu Wang & Yurui Zhao & Lu Yang & Jinxia Gao & Xuhong Chang & Sheng Li & Yanni Zheng, 2022. "The Status of Occupational Stress and Its Influence on the Health of Medical Staff in Lanzhou, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-13, August.
    9. Katarzyna Gustavsson & Zuzanna Goetz-Kundera & Magdalena Flaga-Łuczkiewicz & Adam Wichniak, 2023. "Which Aspects of Work Safety Satisfaction Are Important to Mental Health of Healthcare Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-9, February.
    10. Ying Yang & Yanan Xiao & Yulu Liu & Qiong Li & Changshuo Shan & Shulin Chang & Philip H.-S. Jen, 2021. "Mental Health and Psychological Impact on Students with or without Hearing Loss during the Recurrence of the COVID-19 Pandemic in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-28, February.
    11. Pinky Mahlangu & Yandisa Sikweyiya & Andrew Gibbs & Nwabisa Shai & Mercilene Machisa, 2023. "“I Carry the Trauma and Can Vividly Remember”: Mental Health Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Frontline Health Care Workers in South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-14, January.
    12. Hyewon Lee & Saemi An & Ga Young Lim & Young Woo Sohn, 2021. "Ethical Leadership and Followers’ Emotional Exhaustion: Exploring the Roles of Three Types of Emotional Labor toward Leaders in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-13, October.
    13. Nicola Magnavita & Reparata Rosa Di Prinzio & Igor Meraglia & Maria Eugenia Vacca & Paolo Maurizio Soave & Enrico Di Stasio, 2023. "Sleep in Residents: A Comparison between Anesthesiology and Occupational Medicine Interns," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-13, January.
    14. Lorenza Lia & Eleonora Ricci & Corrado Colaprico & Eleonora Di Legge & Augusto Faticoni & Lorenzo Maria Donini & Giuseppe La Torre, 2022. "Assessment of the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on the Nutritional Status and Lipid Profile of Employees in a Teaching Hospital in Rome: A Retrospective Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-12, April.
    15. Xiao Han & Mengxiao Xue & Qi Zhang & Xiaotian Dong, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 Risk Perception on Emotional Exhaustion among Chinese Hospitality Employees: The Mediating Effect of Job Insecurity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-14, November.
    16. André Luiz Brandão Costa & Magno Conceição das Merces & Amália Ivine Costa Santana & Douglas de Souza e Silva & Rodrigo Fernandes Weyll Pimentel & Pedro Carlos Muniz de Figueiredo & Tatiana Santos Bra, 2021. "The Prevalence of Abdominal Adiposity among Primary Health Care Physicians in Bahia, Brazil: An Epidemiological Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-10, January.
    17. Natasha Subhas & Nicholas Tze-Ping Pang & Wei-Cheng Chua & Assis Kamu & Chong-Mun Ho & Isabel Shamini David & William Wei-Liang Goh & Yogaraja Indran Gunasegaran & Kit-Aun Tan, 2021. "The Cross-Sectional Relations of COVID-19 Fear and Stress to Psychological Distress among Frontline Healthcare Workers in Selangor, Malaysia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-11, September.
    18. Nicola Magnavita, 2022. "Headache in the Workplace: Analysis of Factors Influencing Headaches in Terms of Productivity and Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-11, March.
    19. Giusy Danila Valenti & Palmira Faraci & Paola Magnano, 2021. "Emotional Intelligence and Social Support: Two Key Factors in Preventing Occupational Stress during COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-15, June.
    20. Jose M. León-Pérez & Mindy K. Shoss & Aristides I. Ferreira & Gabriele Giorgi, 2021. "Emerging Issues in Occupational Health Psychology," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-4, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; burnout; physicians;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:4598-:d:1088241. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.