Authors (including presenting author) :
Ng YW (1), Choi YK (1), Choi MK (1), Chung HY (1), Leung KW (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Family Medicine, New Territories East Cluster
Introduction :
Physician burnout has always been a public health concern worldwide. Local studies show that prevalence of physician burnout is >60%. It is likely that physicians would be subject to a higher level of stress under the pandemic. In fact, recent studies show higher prevalence of stress and mental health problems among physicians during COVID-19. Our study aims to explore the stress and burnout condition among family medicine (FM) doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope to understand doctors’ source of stress and psychological needs, so that we could proactively prevent physicians’ burnout by providing timely support and help to physicians in need.
Objectives :
To evaluate stress and burnout condition by assessing change of stress levels, burnout rate and stress coping strategies of FM doctors during COVID-19 pandemic.
Methodology :
FM doctors in New Territories East Cluster were invited to participate in an online survey in December 2020. Data collection included basic demographics, change of stress levels of 5 common sources of burnout (job duties, personal life events, social support, work autonomy, work value and reward) during COVID-19 and stress-coping strategies adopted by participants. Burnout rate was assessed by the single-item measure of burnout. It rates respondent’s severity of stress by scoring from 1 to 5 with burnout defined as score ≥3.
Result & Outcome :
Response rate was 70% (N=70). 57.1% were male, mean age 40.6 ± 6.2. 61.4% reported increased stress in personal life event and 44.3% had increased stress from job duties during COVID-19. For other sources of burnout, the majority of respondents thought the stress levels just remain the same. The burnout rate was 27.1%. The major causes of burnout were related to job duties (37.1%) and personal life event (32.9%). Age, sex, job position and duration of working in primary care were not associated with burnout. The most common coping strategies adopted were: “spend quality time in things outside of work” (70%), “see things from a positive side” (41.4%) and “get comforts from colleagues/seniors/family/friends” (35.7%).
Conclusion: Our burnout rate is relatively low when comparing with other studies. Nevertheless, the data on source of burnout and coping strategies would guide us on implementing measures to support our doctors’ psychological health during the pandemic.
