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Burnout Assessment Among Surgeons and Surgical Trainees During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review
Chanza Fahim Shaikh1, Elizabeth Palmer Kelly1, Alessandro Paro1
1Department of Surgery, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, Ohio.
Background:
The objective of the current study was to summarize current research on burnout among surgical trainees and surgeons during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods:
PubMed, SCOPUS, Embase, and Psych INFO were systematically searched for studies that evaluated burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic among surgical trainees and surgeons.
Results:
A total of 29 articles met inclusion criteria, most of which originated from the United States (n = 18, 62.1%). Rates of burnout ranged from 6.0% to 86.0%. Personal factors responsible for burnout were fear of contracting/transmitting COVID-19 (8 studies, 27.6%), female gender (8, 27.6%), and younger age (5, 17.2%). Professional factors contributing to burnout included increased COVID-19 patient clinical load (6, 20.7%), limited work experience (6, 20.7%), reduction in operative cases (5, 17.2%) and redeployment to COVID-19 wards (4, 13.8%). The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted surgical education due to reduced number of operative cases (11, 37.9%), decreased hands-on experience (4, 13.8%), and not being able to complete case requirements (3, 10.34%). The shift of didactics to virtual formats (3, 10.3%), increased use of telemedicine (2, 6.9%), and improved camaraderie among residents (1, 3.4%) were viewed as positive consequences.
Conclusion:
COVID-19 related burnout was reported in as many as 1 in 2 surgical trainees and attending surgeons. Intrinsic- (i.e., gender, age), family- (i.e., family/being married/having children or being single/not having children), as well as work-related extrinsic- (i.e., work-force deployment, risk of infection/spread, changes in educational format) factors were strongly associated with risk of burnout. These factors should be considered when designing interventions to ameliorate burnout among surgical trainees and surgeons.
