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Cognitive impairment in physicians suffering burnout syndrome: A matter of moral Injury
Author(s) -
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
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.038861
Subject(s) - burnout , anxiety , medicine , depression (economics) , observational study , cross sectional study , population , psychiatry , clinical psychology , psychology , economics , macroeconomics , environmental health , pathology
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.