Cognitive impairment in physicians suffering burnout syndrome: A matter of moral Injury: Epidemiology / Risk and protective factors in MCI and dementia. (7th December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Martino, Gabriel Gerardo; Rojas, Galeno; Zuin, Daniel; Persi, Gabriel Gustavo; Leis, Adriana; Macri, Ana Macarena; Camino, María Victoria; Parisi, Virginia Laura; Silva, Nahuel Pereira; Gatto, Emilia; Aldinio, Victoria; Guillen, Jonathan Cubas; Boccazzi, Julián Fernández
• Is Part Of: Alzheimer's & dementia. Volume 16(2020)Supplement 10
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2020-12-07
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease -- Periodicals; Alzheimer Disease -- Periodicals; Dementia -- Periodicals; Démence; Maladie d'Alzheimer; Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); 616.83
• DOI: 10.1002/alz.038861
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1552-5260

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Burnout syndrome (BOS) is frequently described in physicians, being characterized by exhaustion and long‐term loss of interest generally at work. It is associated with lower effectiveness, lower job satisfaction, and a decrease in commitment to work. It's been recently hypothesized that BOS could lead to cognitive impairment (CI), leading to serious consequences for health care professionals. Primary objective: to determine the impact that BOS has on subjective memory (SM) in physicians compared to general population in other occupations (OthOcc). Secondary objective: to compare how BOS is linked to anxiety, depression and SM impact in physicians and OthOcc. Method: We performed an observational multicenter cross‐sectional study using a custom‐made survey (using Maslach Burnout Inventory [MBI], Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and a SM scale of our own elaboration), sent digitally, distributed nationally. Risk of BOS (BOS‐R) was defined when 1‐2/3 MBI subscales were altered and BOS when all 3 were. Statistical analysis was performed with parametric and non‐parametric tests. Result: We obtained 215 responses (111 physicians and 104 OthOcc). The average age of the physicians, was 34.23 years, women were 62.16% (n=69). In physicians, prevalence of BOS‐R was 62.16% (n=69) and of BOS was 20.72% (n=23); 33.33% (n=37) presented anxiety; and 9.91% (n=11), depression. We found a relationship between BOS‐R/BOS and lower SM scores (p=0.011). Physicians had worse SM scores when compared to OthOcc, being the mean for physicians with BOS‐R 11.32 (SD 6.36) and for OthOcc 9.75 (SD 6.54); for physicians with BOS 11.52 (SD 6.56) and for OthOcc 8.23 (SD 4). Physicians with BOS‐R/BOS presented anxiety (p<0.001) and depression (p=0.001), OthOcc also presented anxiety (p=0.019) and depression (p=0.001). Conclusion: The impact of BOS in physicians is alarming, and is associated with cognitive impairment and anxiety/depression. It has serious personal consequences, negatively affecting health care quality. We believe physicians are suffering what has been coined as 'moral injury', something beyond BOS, that is also affecting our health care system and our patients.