Givers Feel the Heat, Too: Experience of Burning out under Fire of Psychological Distress among Healthcare Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: Burnout is considered a condition of great public concern due to its biopsychosocial consequences which include poor quality of life. Healthcare providers have been described as high-risk population for experiencing burnout. Psychological distress is also considered a strong predictor of experience of burnout among healthcare workers who are burdened with the demand of the healthcare system. This is particularly so with healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa. The period of COVID-19 might have impacted on the burden of burnout experienced by healthcare professionals.

Objective: This study was to determine the burden of burnout and its relationship with psychosocial variables among healthcare workers in a tertiary health care facility.

Methods: The sample for this study was from a population of healthcare workers in a tertiary healthcare facility in southwest Nigeria. The questionnaire comprised three sections: information on socio-demographic work-related characteristics of the respondents; Maslach-Burnout-Inventory (MBI), and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) used in screening mental distress among the respondents. Student t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to compare the means scores of respondents on both the MBI and K-10 scales.

Results: A total of 214 healthcare workers with mean age of 36.49±9.05 participated in the study. Seventy-six (35.5%) of the respondents had high burnout level on MBI. There was statistically significant difference in the mean score emotional exhaustion subscale of burnout experience for gender The mean score on emotional exhaustion dimension in doctors was significantly higher than the nurses. Emotional exhaustion correlated negatively with respondents’ years of experience at work (r = -0.181, p = 0.008). Thirty-seven (17.3%) of the respondents suffered mild to severe psychological distress as indicated by their scores on the Kessler scale of psychological distress.

Conclusion: The study brought to the fore the relevant correlates of burnout in the high-risk group of essential healthcare providers.