Burnout Determinants among Nurses Working in Palliative Care during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Autores da FMUP

• 

  Guilhermina Maria Da Silva Rêgo

  Autor

• Rui Manuel Lopes Nunes

  Autor

Participantes de fora da FMUP

• Gon?alves, J.
• Castro, M.

Unidades de investigação

• Laboratório Associado RISE- Rede de Investigação em Saúde

  

  Investigador

  Fernando Carlos De Landér Schmitt

• Medicina da Comunidade, Informação e Decisão em Saúde

• Recursos Comuns

  

  Investigador

  Guilhermina Maria Da Silva Rêgo

• RISE-Health

  

  Investigador

  Fernando Carlos De Landér Schmitt

Abstract

Nurses working in palliative care are at risk of burnout. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory was used to determine burnout levels of nurses working in the Portuguese national network of palliative care. We evaluated the contribution of personal, work, and COVID-19 variables in three burnout subclasses: personal, work, and patient-related. A cross-sectional, exploratory, and quantitative design was employed and participants were sampled using convenience and snowball technique. An online survey was conducted and 153 nurses participated in our study. Socio-demographic characterization was conducted, levels of burnout and determinants were explored through multiple linear regression models for its three dimensions. High levels of personal, working, and patient burnout were present in 71 (46%), 68 (44%), and 33 nurses (22%), respectively. Most of them agreed that COVID-19 had an impact on their activities. Significant personal and work related burnout factors found were specialization in palliative care, self-perceived health status, unit type, weekly hours of work, and allocation to COVID-19 units. Gender was found to be a significant factor in patient-related burnout. There is a high level of burnout among nurses working in the Portuguese national network of palliative care. Measures for identification and mitigation of burnout are necessary to protect health care professionals.

Keywords

• burnout; palliative care; nurses; COVID-19; delivery of health care