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Impact of leadership on ICU clinicians’ burnout

Article in Intensive Care Medicine · August 2015

DOI: 10.1007/s00134-015-4008-6 · Source: PubMed

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Hamad Medical Corporation Cairo University
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Cairo University Hamad Medical Corporation
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Intensive Care Med
DOI 10.1007/s00134-015-4008-6 LETTER

Amr S. Omar working conditions associated with more frequently presented with
Sameh Elmaraghi increased burnout, and to explore the burnout syndrome. More burnout was
Mohsen S. A. Mahmoud influence of leadership and staff found in the medical ICU
Mohamed A. Khalil empowerment on burnout. (Appendix 1).
Rajvir Singh After receiving approval from the We found that respiratory thera-
Peter J. Ostrowski ethical committee (14281/14), we pists suffered from the same stressors
employed a cross-sectional descrip- as other healthcare practitioners.
tive study with purposive sampling. A Guntupalli et al. (2014) reported
combined methodological approach severe burnout rates of 25 % in res-
Impact of leadership on ICU (i.e., quantitative and qualitative) was piratory therapists in the USA [3].
used within the questionnaires. We Syrians suffered the highest burnout
clinicians’ burnout used five instruments: Conditions of percentage (43.8 %). The influence
Work Effectiveness Scale (CWES), related to specific nationality could
Accepted: 28 July 2015
Work Stress Scale (WSS), Maslasch affect the development of burnout [4].
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg and Burnout Inventory-Human Service Syrians have suffered from civil war
ESICM 2015 Scale (MBI-HSS), Leadership Scale for the last 3 years.
(LS), and Empowerment Scale (ES) Empowerment is symbolized by
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (see electronic supplementary mate- energizing; a direct effect of
(doi:10.1007/s00134-015-4008-6) contains rial Appendix 1). empowerment on emotional exhaus-
supplementary material, which is available We studied 200 healthcare practi- tion has been reported [2]. In our
to authorized users. tioners who practiced within medical work, empowerment accounted for
and surgical ICUs. Our results only 3.8 % of the variance in practi-
showed a high prevalence of burnout tioner burnout (Appendix 1).
Dear Editor, (25.5 %), where physicians, nurses, Multiple achievements associated
The care of critically ill patients is and respiratory therapists were with empowerment by practitioners in
recognized as a highly demanding equally at risk (p = 0.19). We found critical care settings include boosting
and challenging profession as it a significant relationship between the the meaningfulness of work, decision-
requires extensive effort and com- used scores and burnout (Fig. 1). making involvement, smooth target
munication between staff, during Younger individuals were more likely achievements, providing autonomy,
which professionals are exposed to to burn out (p \ 0.001). We found a hastening bureaucratic boundaries,
varying amounts of work-related high association of burnout with the and expressing confidence in situa-
stress. Healthcare practitioners are instruments that we used. Both posi- tions demanding high performance
vulnerable to burnout, especially in tive leadership and staff [5].
areas with increased stress. A high empowerment had a negative effect In conclusion, the reported high
degree of burnout symptoms has been on burnout variance (12.4 and 3.8 %, burnout rate among practitioners in
noted in intensive care unit (ICU) respectively). We noted that clini- ICU settings requires special attention
staff, where up to 45 % of practi- cians who were originally from Syria in terms of positive leadership
tioners experienced burnout
Leadership scale (LS) Empowerement Scale (ES)
symptoms that included insomnia,
irritability, and depression [1].
Developing tools within the burnout-
60
oriented field to aid in the early
management of staff burnout is an 50

important goal. The presence of 40

leaders who possess an empowering
30
attitude is significantly associated
with a reduction in job tension and an 20
enhancement of work effectiveness
10
[2].
The aim of this study was to dis- 0
Bunout No burnout
cover the prevalence of burnout
within an ICU in Qatar, to find the Fig. 1 Clinicians’ burnout in relation to empowerment and leadership scores. Burnout is
precipitating demographics and considered when MBI-HSS score is greater than 26
attitudes; empowerment can serve as 3. Guntupalli KK, Wachtel S, Mallampalli M. S. A. Mahmoud
an ameliorating factor. Further stud- A, Surani S (2014) Burnout in the Department of Critical Care Medicine,
intensive care unit professionals. Indian J Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
ies are needed to confirm our findings Crit Care Med 18(3):139 e-mail: mohsensalah70@hotmail.com
in the same regional and individual 4. Al-Turki HA, Al-Turki RA, Al-Dardas
groups. HA, Al-Gazal, Al-Maghrabi GH (2010)
M. A. Khalil
Burnout syndrome among multinational
nurses working in Saudi Arabia. Ann Afr Department of Anesthesiology, Cairo
Compliance with ethical standards
Med 9(4):226–229 University, Giza, Egypt
e-mail: mohamedkhalil404@hotmail.com
Conflicts of interest Amr Omar is a con- 5. Cummings G, Hayduk L, Estabrooks C
(2005) Mitigating the impact of hospital
sultant in Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC),
restructuring on nurses: the responsibility R. Singh
Qatar. None of the other authors have conflicts of emotionally intelligent leadership. Department of Medical Research, Hamad
of interest to declare. Nurs Res 54(1):2–12 Medical Corporation, PO: 3050, Doha,
Qatar
e-mail: rsingh@hamad.qa
A. S. Omar ())
References Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery/ICU P. J. Ostrowski
Section, Heart Hospital, Hamad Medical Management Department, University of
1. Poncet MC, Toullic P, Papazian L, Corporation, PO: 3050, Doha, Qatar
Kentish-Barnes N, Timsit JF, Pochard F, e-mail: a_s_omar@yahoo.com Toronto at Scarborough, Scarborough, ON,
Azoulay E (2007) Burnout syndrome in Canada
critical care nursing. Am J Resp Crit e-mail: pointh@gmail.com
A. S. Omar
S. Elmaraghi
Care Med 175(7):698–704
2. Saini R, Kaur S, Das K (2011) Department of Critical Care Medicine, Beni
Assessment of stress and burnout among Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt
intensive care nurses at a tertiary care e-mail: sameh_elmaraghi@yahoo.com
hospital. J Men Health Hum Beh
16(1):43–48

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