Prevalence and associated factors among health care providers in acute care settings at a tertiary teaching hospital in Dar es salaam Tanzania

Abstract

Background: Burnout is an occupational phenomenon as listed in ICD-11, with defining symptoms of feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, or feelings of cynicism related to one's job, and reduced professional efficacy. Although studies show high prevalence, burnout is still a neglected topic among health care providers. Health care providers burnout has been linked to increased patient safety risk, low provider professionalism, and low satisfaction with the care encounter. However, most of the data available are from developed countries as burnout is still a newly recognized phenomenon in the sub-Saharan region. Aim of the study: This study aimed to find the prevalence of and factors associated with burnout among health care providers in acute care settings at a tertiary teaching hospital in Dar es salaam, Tanzania. Methodology: This was an analytical cross-sectional study, in which all health workers at the Emergency Medicine Department, Intensive Care Unit, and Anaesthesia at Muhimbili National Hospital who met the inclusion criteria were recruited in thisstudy. A two-part self-administered questionnaire that included an adapted version of the Standardized Maslach Burnout Inventory was used for data collection. Data were cleaned and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: 174 health care personnel were recruited and issued questionnaires to participate in the study, with 135 questionnaires returned making a response rate of 78%. Out of 135 health workers in the study, 43.7% were from ICU; the majority being female (63.7%), and assistant nursing officers (42%) being the most prevalent cadre. The study found the prevalence of burnout among participants to be 62%, with 122 (90.4%) participants showing a high level of Emotional Exhaustion making it the most prevalent among the three burnout symptoms Longer duration of a single day shift was associated with increased burnout among work-related factors (p=<0.001). Whilst, among social-related factors; fewer night-time sleeping hours and tobacco use, were significantly associated with increased burnout; moreover, participants with regular physical exercise practice had lower odds for burnout among health care workers in the acute care setting (OR 0.45; 95% CI 0.21-0.97; p=<0.001). Conclusion and recommendations: The study has shown a high and alarming prevalence of burnout among health care workers in the acute care setting. This calls for immediate action to be taken, warranting further studies at the regional and national levels to ascertain the burden of burnout and causes in our setting. This will be useful in selecting appropriate interventions to alleviate burnout and improve health care workers' wellbeing