News: Second year of COVID-19 pandemic took heavy toll on clinicians

A new study published in JAMA Health Forum found that clinician burnout spiked in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the study, the clinician burnout rate rose to 60% in late 2021, up from 45% pre-pandemic in 2019, HealthLeaders reported.

An earlier study found that emotional exhaustion increased from 31.8% of healthcare workers in 2019 to 40.4% in 2021. Emotional exhaustion is one of three scales in a widely used measure of burnout, the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Another earlier study found that physicians reporting at least one burnout symptom increased from 38.2% in 2020 to 62.8% in 2021.

The new study is based on survey data collected between February 2019 and December 2021 from more than 20,000 clinicians.

The results feature several key data points:

• Burnout was reported by 45% of clinicians in 2019, 40% to 45% of clinicians in early 2020, 50% of clinicians in late 2020, and 60% of clinicians in late 2021
• Higher rates of burnout were reported in chaotic workplaces (odds ratio 1.51) and settings with low work control (odds ratio 2.10)
• Higher rates of burnout were associated with poor teamwork (odds ratio 2.08)
• Lower rates of burnout were associated with feeling valued (odds ratio 0.22)
• In the fourth quarter of 2021, the burnout rate was 36% in calm environments and 78% in chaotic environments
• In the fourth quarter of 2021, the burnout rate was 39% in environments with good work control and 75% in environments with poor work control
• In the fourth quarter of 2021, the burnout rate was 37% when clinicians felt valued and 69% when they did not feel valued
• At the end of 2021, clinician satisfaction decreased and intent to leave increased

"Results of this survey study show that in 2020 through 2021, burnout and intent to leave gradually increased, rose sharply in late 2021, and varied by chaos, work control, teamwork, and feeling valued. Monitoring these variables could provide mechanisms for worker protection," the study's co-authors wrote.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in HealthLeaders. To read the full study published in JAMA Health Forum, click here.