Sharmeen Ziarukh
Indus Hospital & Health Network, Pakistan
Title: Burnout and patient safety culture assessment in a secondary care hospital
Biography
Biography: Sharmeen Ziarukh
Abstract
Statement of the Problem: Burnout refers to the effects of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and feelings of decreased personal accomplishment. In healthcare workers, studies have shown that burnout eventually leads to deficient patient care. Patient safety is simply to ensure no harm comes to patient while in the healthcare setup. The purpose of this study is to identify employee burn-out at any level and to assess if there is any impact on the patient safety culture.
Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: This cross-sectional study was carried out amongst healthcare staff of Tehsil Head Quarter Manawan hospital that have been working for at least two years and directly involved in patient care. Two questionnaires were used. Maslach burnout inventory (MBI), to assess the level of burnout and AHRQ patient safety culture survey. After informed consent, 58 participants were enrolled in this study.
Findings: High degree of occupational exhaustion (OE i.e. 42.9% was seen amongst doctors and 57.1% had low degree of personal accomplishment (PA). Significant association was observed between two sub-scales of MBI (p<0.05). No significant association was observed between working hours, designated positions and burnout (p>0.05). Statistically weak correlation exists between burnout and patient safety culture (r=0.075, p=0.580). Amongst our study participants 43.3% were aware of incident reporting and 31% have reported at least one event in the last 12 months. Overall, 76% employees consider their work unit reliable for providing safe patient care.
Conclusion & Significance: High degree of burnout was observed in employees specifically attending physicians. Good team work, high level of personal accomplishment, incident reporting culture all indicate towards an overall safe work area, which creates an environment/culture of patient safety in the organization.
Recommendations: Conducting a similar study with a greater sample size and longer duration to identify if burnout affects patient safety practices