Professional Quality of Life and Associated Factors Among Pediatric Glaucoma Providers

Even though physician burnout can negatively impact physical/mental health, ophthalmologists' quality of life (QOL) is understudied. Although managing high-risk diseases like pediatric glaucoma may lead to compassion satisfaction (CS), the responsibility of caring for very sick, demanding patients has been linked to higher burnout. Burnout and secondary traumatic stress (STS) constitute compassion fatigue, the negative effects resulting from helping those who experience stress. We assessed professional QOL, including CS, burnout, and STS, along with associated factors among pediatric glaucoma providers managing potentially blinding disease in children.

Cross-sectional survey study.

Pediatric glaucoma providers in the Childhood Glaucoma Research Network, American Glaucoma Society, and Indian Paediatric Glaucoma Society.

Participants were sent an electronic survey of a validated instrument (Professional Quality of Life-Version 5) designed to measure burnout, STS, and CS, as well as questions related to demographics, lifestyle, training, and practice. Burnout, STS, and CS scores range from 10 to 50 and are classified into low (≤ 22), moderate (23-41), and high (≥ 42) subgroups.

Burnout, STS, and CS.

Seventy-six pediatric glaucoma providers completed the survey with resulting burnout (22.6 ± 6.3), STS (22.7 ± 6.1), and CS (42.3 ± 6.7) scores. Most respondents had low burnout (43, 56.6%), low STS (44, 57.9%) and high CS (48, 63.2%), though more than a third reported moderate burnout (33, 43.4%), STS (31, 40.8%), and CS (27, 35.6%). Older age and more years in practice correlated positively with CS, and age correlated negatively with STS (P < 0.05 for all). Frequent workday fatigue correlated positively with burnout and STS and negatively with CS, and frequent caffeine consumption correlated positively with burnout and negatively with CS (P < 0.05 for all). Members of a married or unmarried couple had significantly lower CS scores than single, divorced, or separated respondents (P = 0.022).

Pediatric glaucoma providers derive a high level of professional satisfaction from their work, though many report moderate burnout and STS. To comprehensively address provider QOL, CS, and both components of compassion fatigue must be considered. Initial efforts may be focused on younger, early-career providers as this group had lower professional QOL scores than their older, late-career counterparts.

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