Date of Project

4-21-2023

Document Type

Honors Thesis

School Name

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Health Professions

Major Advisor

Dr. Lori Minton

Abstract

Healthcare workers, even with all of the positive work that they do, often suffer from increased burnout and decreased wellness/quality of life. This problem is not new and has been steadily worsening for many years, however, there are factors which impact burnout and wellness that have not been analyzed or have produced mixed results in prior burnout and wellness literature. There has been little to no research done on the impact of patient population demographics on burnout and wellness in healthcare workers, and the research analyzing the impacts of demographic healthcare worker location has consistently produced mixed results often based on specialty and timing. This study used a 39 question survey to analyze personal, work-related, and patient-related burnout along with overall psychological wellness in healthcare workers across 15 different demographic categories, namely demographic patient population and demographic healthcare worker location. 79 participants from 18 different healthcare worker occupations completed the survey. Subsequent data analysis found that healthcare workers on average experience moderate personal and work-related burnout, and that the average healthcare worker has a low enough quality of life to warrant screening for major depressive disorder. Additionally, there was a significantly higher personal burnout compared to patient-related burnout and work-related burnout compared to patient-related burnout (p < 0.001). Overall, the impacts of patient population demographics and healthcare worker location demographics were negligible for burnout and wellness except for patients in rural areas being associated with increased patient-related burnout (p = 0.045). Shift length (p = 0.19, p = 0.003, and p = 0.005), type of facility (p = 0.017, p = 0.049, and p = 0.028), and intent to leave profession (p = 0.003, p = 0.010, and p = 0.093) were correlated with all three dimensions of burnout (each p value listed is for each type of burnout in this order: personal, work-related, and patient-related). Intent to leave profession (p = 0.012) and intent to leave position (p = 0.013) were both significantly correlated with psychological wellness. This research indicates that there are several factors associated with increased burnout and decreased wellness in healthcare workers, and indicates a need to offer additional resources and support for our healthcare workers to prevent further decline in the mental health and wellbeing of healthcare workers.

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