Resilience and Burnout Among Healthcare Staff During COVID-19: Lessons for Pandemic Preparedness

TL;DR

The study found that higher personal resilience among healthcare workers during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic was linked to lower burnout and better mental health outcomes.

Contribution

This study highlights the importance of resilience-building strategies in healthcare organizations to mitigate burnout during pandemics.

Findings

Higher resilience scores were significantly associated with lower emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.

Resilience was positively related to personal accomplishment among healthcare staff during the pandemic.

The study suggests that boosting resilience organization-wide can reduce burnout and support mental health.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Healthcare workers at the frontline of managing pandemics are at increased risk for adverse physical and mental health outcomes, which has been shown to result in burnout. The relationship between personal resilience and burnout among clinical and non-clinical healthcare staff working in an acute care setting was assessed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional survey design with electronic questionnaires was used to measure resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale,) and burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory—Human Services Survey). Linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between resilience and emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Results: A significant inverse relationship between resilience and both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and a positive relationship between resilience and personal accomplishment were identified. Higher resilience scores were significantly associated with lower emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and higher personal accomplishment under pandemic conditions. Conclusions: Strategies to boost resilience organization-wide amongst healthcare staff providing patient care are critical for providing skills to reduce the onset of burnout and support employee mental health. From a pandemic preparedness lens, organizational-level emergency management should consider the importance of resilience-building among staff to proactively prevent burnout and its subsequent effects on patient-care and general hospital functioning.

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