The Experience of a Single NHS England Trust on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Junior and Middle-Grade Doctors: What Is Next?

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 18; no. 19; p. 10413
• Main Authors: Revythis, Antonios, Shah, Sidrah, Enyioma, Synthia, Ghose, Aruni, Patel, Meenash, Karathanasi, Afroditi, Sanchez, Elisabet, Boussios, Stergios
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 03-10-2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Burnout; Burnout, Professional - epidemiology; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Disease transmission; Health care; Health Personnel; Hospitals; Humans; Medical personnel; Mental disorders; Mental health; Pandemics; Physicians; Polls & surveys; Questionnaires; SARS-CoV-2; Standard deviation; State Medicine; Working conditions; Working hours; Workloads; United Kingdom > UK; England; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; medical staff; coronavirus; Corona; burnout; health personnel
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph181910413

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly affected all national healthcare systems at different levels. In countries heavily hit by the pandemic, it was reported that healthcare workers were asked to work long hours, had increased workload, were faced with difficult decisions, and that the resources were stretched. As such, the COVID-19 pandemic would create the perfect storm for burnout in healthcare workers. Within this context, we conducted a survey in a district general hospital in Southeast England. We focused on doctors in training, in different specialties. This survey included parts of the Maslach Burnout Inventory for healthcare professionals, along with other relevant questions, such as the financial impact and seeking of psychological support. The results showed moderate levels of emotional exhaustion, but high levels of personal satisfaction, a positive impact on doctors finances and very low levels of seeking support.