About this Research Topic

Background

Healthcare workers' burnout is a global issue. COVID-19 pandemic had a significantly negative effect on the morale and resilience of healthcare workers. High rates of depression, anxiety and PTSD have been well-documented across the globe for healthcare workers, contributing to high turnover and attrition rates. Occupational burnout not only affects the healthcare workers but is also detrimental to patient safety and organizational productivity. Burnout should be seen as a continuum ranging from job dissatisfaction to psychiatric morbidity. It is important to educate health professionals and employ primary and secondary preventative strategies at every stage of burnout for the optimal functioning of healthcare systems.

Although numerous observational studies highlight high rates of burnout among healthcare workers, there has been little research to demonstrate effectiveness of interventions to support mental well-being of healthcare workers during stressful times. Investigation of potential resilience-building interventions is especially important to prepare for the next pandemic or large-scale disaster. In addition, robust evidence-based guidelines and best practices are needed to reduce the high rates of burnout and promote wellbeing in healthcare workforce by integrating and addressing the full spectrum of occupational, organizational, social, personal, and psychological factors. There are significant gaps in the existing literature including lack of prospective, longitudinal intervention studies, research focusing the needs of minority healthcare workers and identifying barriers to promote institutional wellbeing culture.

We specifically welcome interventional studies focusing on prevention or management of burnout among healthcare workers, either as primary research or analysis of existing empirical data. In addition, we welcome studies aimed at enhancing resilience and promoting wellbeing culture in healthcare organizations. Educational interventions are a key theme for this collection, increasing awareness among healthcare workers and encouraging self-care.

Additional key themes to be investigated include acceptability, resources procurement, feasibility, long-term sustainability, the impact on patients and other stakeholders, emphasis on needs of minority populations and eliminating punitive policies to get mental health and substance abuse help. Studies addressing current methodological issues in burnout research focusing on healthcare workers are also welcome, for example recommendations to reduce heterogeneity in outcomes by utilizing operational definitions of burnout and employing standardized and validated measurement tools as well as representative sample. To effectively address these complex issues, both quantitative and qualitative studies are needed.

Keywords: wellbeing, burnout, resilience, satisfaction, morale, healthcare workers, health workers, healthcare professionals, health professionals

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