Abstract

INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE PHYSICIAN BURNOUT: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS

Nader Marzouq Alotaibi*, Rana Abu Alqasim Mohammed Kudam, Majed Saad Alqahtani, Saad Mohammed S. Sleem, Mona Saud K. Alrashidi, Budur Mohammed D. Alansari, Jenan Ali Marhoon, Al Abdrabalnabi, Fatimah Ahmed E.

Abstract

Background & Purpose: Health practitioner burnout, a work-related syndrome concerning emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and an experience of reduced personal accomplishment, has reached epidemic levels. Interventions programs are commonly cognitive behavioral measures aimed at enhancing process competence and personal coping skills, social support or different kinds of relaxation exercises. The Aim of this work is to provide cumulative data about the effect of interventions (e.g. duty hour requirements DHR) to prevent and reduce physician burnout. Methods: A systematic search was performed of PubMed, Cochrane library Ovid, Scopus & Google scholar to identify Family Medicine RCTs, clinical trials, and comparative studies, which studied the outcome of Intervention group versus Control group for physician burnout outcomes. A meta-analysis was done using fixed and random-effect methods. The primary outcome was overall burnout rate. Secondary outcomes were high emotional exhaustion and high depersonalization incidences. Results: A total of 5 studies were identified involving 530 patients, with 256 patients in Intervention group, and 274 patients in Control group. Regarding primary outcome measures, the fixed-effects model of the meta- analysis study showed highly significant decrease in overall burnout rate in Intervention group compared to Control group (p = 0.037). Regarding secondary outcome measures, the random-effects model of the meta- analysis study showed non-significant difference in high emotional exhaustion in Intervention group compared to Control group (p > 0.05). The random-effects model of the meta-analysis study showed highly non- significant difference in high depersonalization in Intervention group compared to Control group (p > 0.05). Conclusion: To conclude, this study indicates that both individual-focused and structural or organizational techniques can result in clinically significant reductions in burnout amongst physicians.

Keywords: Interventions, Physician Burnout.