Burnout Syndrome Among Health Workers At A Brazilian Public Hospital Run By A Social Health Organization

Paulo de Oliveira Vasconcelos Filho

When stress is a chronic problem associated with work, it is referred to as Burnout syndrome (BS). The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of BS among health professionals at a Brazilian public hospital run by a social health organization. This is a qualitative descriptive study describing the experiences of workers at a public hospital located in Cubatão, SP, Brazil. A hundred thirty-eight professionals agreed to participate in the study. The cohort included 27 physicians, 46 nurses and 65 nursing technicians. The study was done using a two-part questionnaire. The first part included questions designed to investigate socio-demographic data. The second part included the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). The demographic data collected are as follows: the average age of participants was 34,6 years (± 5.4), the prevalence of women was 68%and the marital status most reported was a stable union (38.5%). All participants had completed at least a technical education. Most participants were nursing technicians (51.2%), and the average hiring time by the institution was 5.5 years (± 2.1). 76% were employed by the organization and 24% had outsourcing contract. According to the criteria of MBI-HSS, fifteen respondents (10.8%) had BS. For nurses, there was a positive association between low professional accomplishment (PA) and women (OR = 2.6; IC 95% [0.9; 7.3]; p=0,05), and between married and emotional exhaustion (OR = 1.6; IC 95% [0.3; 2.3]; p=0.04). For nursing technicians, a positive association between depersonalization (DE) and age 31-35 years (OR = 1.8; 95% CI [0.5; 5.9]; p = 0.05), and between DE the period of time in the job 4 – 7 years (OR = 7.9; 95% CI [0.9; 71.1]; p = 0.03). As for the physicians, the positive association was between period of time in the job 4 – 7 years and low PA (OR = 1.7; 95% CI [0.6; 5.1]; p = 0.04). Our results showed a moderate frequency of emotional exhaustion and low professional accomplishment in a Brazilian public hospital. Exhaustion and lack of professional interest may be related to inadequate human resources policies.