Burnout and Suicide in Healthcare and Allied Professionals

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2021) | Viewed by 17114

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
International Institute of Organisational Psychological Medicine, Melbourne 3207, Australia
Interests: organisational psychological medicine; bioethics
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is dedicated to Burnout and Suicide in Healthcare and Allied Professionals. This issue invites review articles and original research papers that must centre around factors leading to burnout and suicide in healthcare and allied fields, the causes of this, the psychosocial interventions for it, the characteristics, and the clinical relevance and policy issues surrounding these themes. Papers on the same theme related to COVID-19 and the current pandemic will be given special preference. Papers related to ethical issues on the theme of the issue are also welcome. Articles involving burnout and suicide in doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, hospital staff, and social workers and/or case managers will be appreciated.

Prof. Russell D'souza
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Burnout
  • Suicide
  • Healthcare professionals

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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7 pages, 509 KiB  
Article
Work Fatigue in a Hospital Setting: The Experience at Cheng Hsin General Hospital
by Tao-Hsin Tung and Ming-Chon Hsiung
Healthcare 2021, 9(6), 776; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9060776 - 21 Jun 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2006
Abstract
We aimed to investigate fatigue and its related factors in a medical professional population aged ≥30 years, as appraised by the implementation of an employee health screening program at Cheng Hsin General Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan. The study participants included a total of [...] Read more.
We aimed to investigate fatigue and its related factors in a medical professional population aged ≥30 years, as appraised by the implementation of an employee health screening program at Cheng Hsin General Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan. The study participants included a total of 2132 (400 males and 1732 females) healthy medical professionals enrolled in a teaching hospital who underwent physical verification in 2019. Demographic characteristics and fatigue information were collected. The overall prevalence of personal- and work-related fatigue in this study population was 41.4% and 39.1%, respectively. The prevalence of a high risk of work- or personal-related fatigue proved to be substantially greater (p-value for chi-square test <0.0001) than it was for a low or moderate risk of personal-related fatigue. Using multinominal logistic regression analysis, seniority and position were statistically significant in relation to a high risk of personal- and work-related fatigue. Personal- and work-related fatigue were found to be prevalent in physicians and nurses. Lower seniority was also related to severe personal- or work-related fatigue. Providing this population with controlled working environments and health improvements is important. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Burnout and Suicide in Healthcare and Allied Professionals)
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Review

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16 pages, 2904 KiB  
Review
Exploring Global Research Trends in Burnout among Nursing Professionals: A Bibliometric Analysis
by Delana Galdino de Oliveira, Augusto da Cunha Reis, Isabela de Melo Franco and Ayala Liberato Braga
Healthcare 2021, 9(12), 1680; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9121680 - 04 Dec 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5278
Abstract
Nursing professionals are constantly exposed to several risk factors and high levels of stress that can affect their mental, emotional, and physical health, which can trigger burnout syndrome. This article aims to use bibliometric analysis to investigate burnout research trends among nursing professionals [...] Read more.
Nursing professionals are constantly exposed to several risk factors and high levels of stress that can affect their mental, emotional, and physical health, which can trigger burnout syndrome. This article aims to use bibliometric analysis to investigate burnout research trends among nursing professionals worldwide and to compare the contributions of different countries/institutions, scientific journals, authors, keywords, and citations. A bibliometric study was performed using the Scopus and Web of Science databases, in the period up to November 2021, aiming to search original and review articles in the English language regarding burnout in nursing professionals. The analysis was performed with a sample of 1406 articles. The most cited article indicated that 43% of nurses had high burnout scores, and a similar percentage were dissatisfied with their work. The most productive and most cited country in the world was the United States of America. Regarding the 10 most cited documents, there were no studies that could provide interventions to reduce burnout in nursing professionals, which can result in a need to develop studies on prevention capable of mitigating the problem, in view of the impacts generated on their mental, emotional, and physical health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Burnout and Suicide in Healthcare and Allied Professionals)
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Other

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7 pages, 198 KiB  
Perspective
Suicide among Health Care Professionals—An Indian Perspective
by Nishant Das, Prerna Khar, Sagar Karia and Nilesh Shah
Healthcare 2022, 10(2), 354; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10020354 - 11 Feb 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2594
Abstract
Suicide is a global phenomenon that claims a person’s life every 40 s. The suicide-mortality rate in India is higher than the worldwide average for health care professionals (HCP). The treatment gap for mental health care is alarming, more than 80% in India [...] Read more.
Suicide is a global phenomenon that claims a person’s life every 40 s. The suicide-mortality rate in India is higher than the worldwide average for health care professionals (HCP). The treatment gap for mental health care is alarming, more than 80% in India which has improved compared to a decade. Among the methods chosen by HCPs for dying by suicide, violent suicide methods are more common. Hanging is the most common means, followed by lethal injection and jumping from a building. Among the medical students and professionals in India, academic stress is the leading cause of suicides, followed by mental illness and harassment. Stressfully long working hours, starvation for long hours, inadequate diet, sleep deprivation, inadequate rest, high levels of personal expectations, knowledge of lethal suicide methods, easy access to potentially fatal drugs, apathy, and fearlessness towards death are some of the contributing factors. Primary preventive measures to minimize suicides in HCPs would be to conduct stress-management workshops at an institutional level, routine mental health check-ups in healthcare institutions, mental-health screening for students enrolling into healthcare courses, and prompt referrals to mental healthcare facilities. In addition, telehealth services or mental health services for medical professionals of India are the need of the hour. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Burnout and Suicide in Healthcare and Allied Professionals)
33 pages, 692 KiB  
Systematic Review
Caregiving Role and Psychosocial and Individual Factors: A Systematic Review
by Elena Cejalvo, Manuel Martí-Vilar, César Merino-Soto and Marivel Teresa Aguirre-Morales
Healthcare 2021, 9(12), 1690; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9121690 - 07 Dec 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3687
Abstract
Taking care of a person with a physical disability can become a challenge for caregivers as they must combine the task of caring with their personal and daily needs. The aim of this study was to assess the impact that taking care of [...] Read more.
Taking care of a person with a physical disability can become a challenge for caregivers as they must combine the task of caring with their personal and daily needs. The aim of this study was to assess the impact that taking care of a person who needs support has on caregivers and to analyze certain characteristics they present, such as self-esteem and resilience. To that end, a bibliographic review was carried out from 1985, when the first article of taking care of a person who needs support was published, to 2020 (inclusive), in the databases of Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, Pubmed, Eric, Psycinfo, and Embase. The search yielded a total of (n = 37) articles subject to review, following the guidelines established in the PRISMA declaration. The results show that caregiving was highly overburdening and negatively affected the physical condition and the psychological and mental states of caregivers. In addition, certain psychological characteristics present in caregivers such as having high self-esteem and being resilient were found to act as protective factors against the caregiving burden. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Burnout and Suicide in Healthcare and Allied Professionals)
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5 pages, 509 KiB  
Viewpoint
Who Cares What the Doctor Feels: The Responsibility of Health Politics for Burnout in the Pandemic
by Jasna Karacic, Harold J. Bursztajn and Marianna Arvanitakis
Healthcare 2021, 9(11), 1550; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9111550 - 15 Nov 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2348
Abstract
Modern health has become a defining facet of contemporary life managed by health policy. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected mental health, resulting in stress and anxiety in doctors’ professional and private life. Since the beginning of the pandemic, doctors have been facing [...] Read more.
Modern health has become a defining facet of contemporary life managed by health policy. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected mental health, resulting in stress and anxiety in doctors’ professional and private life. Since the beginning of the pandemic, doctors have been facing chronic stress, which was reported to the hospital managers and health-care agencies, but nothing was done in the practice to protect them. Although doctors are trained to stay emotionally restrained, a large number of patients in intensive care, along with the personal concerns for their families, has led to burnout. This article highlights the need for health politics to take responsibility for dealing with burnout in health-care workers with a new approach that should help doctors recognize, understand, and manage work-related stress with additional support in the pandemic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Burnout and Suicide in Healthcare and Allied Professionals)
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