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Occupational Burnout of Health Care Professionals in Hospitals

Tachtsoglou K, Lera M, Iliadis Ch, Frantzana A and Kourkouta L*

Introduction: The phenomenon of occupational burnout has been the field of substantial research. Initially, the research has been focused on health professionals, for they were considered to be the most prone employees to occupational burnout.

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the health care professionals’ feelings and attitudes both during working and after their work. Additionally, their relationships with patients will be investigated.

Material and methods: This research paper has the form of a quantitative research using questionnaires with numerically rated items. The questionnaire is one of the most popular techniques for the quantitative research. The sample of this research paper includes both nurses and doctors chosen from the workforce of various hospital departments of a General Hospital in Thessaloniki. Specifically, 180 nurses and 120 doctors were surveyed.

Results: Initially, starting with the presentation of the results of our research, demographic characteristics were juxtaposed in order to clarify the sample. Firstly, it is observed that a big percentage of the sample consists of women (66.7%), while the remaining 33.3% of men. Regarding the age distribution of the sample, it is shown that 13.3% of the surveyed are aged 26 to 35 years old, 20.0% are aged 36 to 45 years old, 6.0% are aged 46 to 55 years and 6.7% are over 56 years old. With regard to the educational level of respondents, 16.7% are secondary school graduates, 43.3% tertiary education graduates(technological institution graduates), 6.7% tertiary education (university graduates); the 6.7% hold a master's degree and 26.7% hold a doctorate. Simultaneously, it is seen that 60% of the surveyed are nurses and 40% doctors. Finally, regarding the average work experience of the surveyed, it was found that it equals 20 ± 9.6 years.

Conclusion: Occupational Burnout (OB) is a syndrome of physical and psychological exhaustion regarding health care professionals. It has three dimensions relating to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of personal achievements.