"The Way We Do Things is Unsustainable"-Exploring Symptoms of Burnout Among Healthcare Professionals in Prenatal...

This research explored a cross-country comparison of qualitative and quantitative data assessing the experiences of prenatal genomic healthcare professionals (HCP) in Australia and the Netherlands.

The interview script included open-ended questions on work experience, validated scales on compassion fatigue and stress, and demographic details. Content analysis with an inductive coding approach was used for the coding and analysis of qualitative data. Quantitative data were compared between professions and countries, using a one-way ANCOVA.

Quantitative data were obtained from 93 participants and qualitative data from a subset of 63 participants, recruited from the departments of clinical genetics, maternal-fetal medicine and genomic laboratories. The following themes were constructed: (1) Advancements in prenatal genomics increase diagnostic rates but cause increased workloads; (2) Benefits and drawbacks of the current healthcare system; (3) The burden of equivocality: high stakes and ambiguous findings; and (4) Multidisciplinary teamwork, support and supervision may improve working conditions. There were no significant differences in compassion fatigue between professions, but Australian HCPs experienced significantly more symptoms of burnout and secondary traumatic stress than Dutch HCPs.

Although participants had overall positive views and experiences, with high levels of job satisfaction and low levels of compassion fatigue, additional resources are required to minimize professional burnout while dealing with increasing demands.