DEPLETED

“Just because you take breaks doesn’t mean you’re broken.”
 Curtis Tyrone Jones

Have you been to a hospital lately? How did your health care professional handle you? Did you find any mismatch between their words and actions?  Were they rude despite being unprovoked? Did he/she look angry, haggard or frustrated?  They are probably suffering from burnout.



Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by the depletion of one’s ability to cope with one’s environment, resultant from one’s responses to the on-going demand characteristics. It may occur in any profession but unfortunately, it has often been linked to those who are in the "helping professions" for instance nurses and doctors. Please follow the following links to read more on this https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0176698, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6c09/83e788957e79609bb1a19d496e46a6542ad5.pdf. According to the World Health Organization healthy workplace framework (2009), data collected showed that an estimated 2 million men and women die each year as a result of occupational accidents and work-related illnesses or injuries, while 8% of the global burden of disease, is from depression that is currently attributed to occupational risks. This, therefore, means that the healthcare service delivery system is at a threat unless something drastic is done.


Why should I be concerned about the burnout of health professionals? We should be concerned because studies have shown that burnout increases staff turn over, decreased job satisfaction, poor patient interaction and increased possibility of occurrence of medical errors.


Different studies discuss on several causes of burnout, below are some examples.

• Moral distress -occurs when “the person is aware of a moral problem, acknowledges moral responsibility, and makes a moral judgment about the correct action; yet, as a result of real or perceived constraints, participates in perceived moral wrongdoing".
• Physical and psychological environments.
• Dealing with death and dying 
•  Inadequate preparation to address the emotional and spiritual needs of patients and patients’ families
• Insufficient staff support

When W.H.O  established that burnout is indeed a looming crisis. They generated a definition of a healthy workplace environment. They defined it as an environment in which workers and managers collaborate and use a continuous improvement processes that protect and promote the health, safety, and well-being of all workers. To read the full report please follow the link https://www.who.int/occupational_health/healthy_workplace_framework.pdf.

For this to be achieved they recommended that the following needs should be met.

• Health and safety concerns in the physical work environment;
• Health, safety and well-being concerns in the psychosocial work environment including organization of work and workplace culture.
• Personal health resources in the workplace; and ways of participating in the community to improve the health of workers, their families and other members of the community.

How can the community help health professionals?

• Encourage loved ones to take vacations or engage in fun activities; on some days one needs to get away from the hospital setting
• Use encouraging words on them e.g praise one who exceeded their expectations
• Set realistic expectations for them e.g we need rest, we at times cry too when overtaken by grief, we get frustrated, we occasionally need to be reminded why we started out in this field, etc.

In conclusion, as more light is being shed on burnout lets remember that we are all affected both directly and indirectly. There is more that needs to happen such as candid discussions with all stakeholders involved. As we continue to generate an understanding of this phenomenon lets embrace that;