Open Questions of Life Satisfaction and Burnout in Anesthesiology and Resuscitation

Abstract Anesthesiologists and resuscitators are at high risk of developing burnout, which can lead to various unfavorable consequences, such as suicide and/or medical errors. The aim of the study The dependence between happiness (satisfaction with life) and burnout in staff of anesthesiology and intensive care departments. Multicenter, anonymous, blind observational study.

Materials and methods Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Flourishing Scale (FS), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the study also included a series of general questions (gender, age, specialization, subjective definition of “happiness”). The study included 361 participants, including 311 specialists from the departments of anesthesiology and intensive care, and a control group of 50 non-medical workers.

Results According to the MBI, high burnout scores were registered for all three subscales: 15% of anesthetists, 17.5% of resuscitators, 9.9% of nursing staff, 0% in the control group. The high figures of some of the three subscales of burnout: 82% of anesthesiologists, 66.25% of resuscitators, 59.4% of nurses and nursing assistants, 14% in the control group. The life satisfaction level was significantly lower in all groups of health care staff in the study, compared to the control group. Only a little more than half of the medical workers (56.59%) never thought about suicide, which means that almost half of the staff of the anesthesiology and resuscitation departments thought to some extent about suicide.

Conclusion There is a growing awareness of the problem of occupational stress and burnout in anesthesiology and resuscitation. The timely identification of the first symptoms of burnout, and the provision of anesthesiology-resuscitation staff with psychological tools/psychological support to deal with occupational stress and burnout are required today.

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