Burnout and patient safety culture assessment in a secondary care hospital.

OBJECTIVES: To identify employee burn-out and assess its impact on patient safety culture.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out amongst healthcare providers (HCP) of Tehsil Head Quarter Manawan Hospital, Lahore from April 1st till 30th , 2023, who had been working for at least one year and directly involved in patient care. Two questionnaires were used; the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to assess level of burnout, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) patient safety culture survey. After obtaining informed consent, 59 participants were enrolled in this study.

RESULTS: High degree of occupational exhaustion (OE) 42.9% was seen amongst doctors and 57.1% had low degree of personal accomplishment (PA) compared to all other health care providers. Significant association was observed between two sub-scales of MBI (p<0.05). No significant association was observed in working hours, designated positions and burnout (p>0.05). Statistically weak correlation existed between burnout and patient safety culture (r=0.075, p=0.580). Awareness on incident reporting was in 43.3% of participants; of which 31% had reported at least one event in last 12 months. Overall, 76% employees consider their work unit reliable for providing safe patient care.

CONCLUSIONS: Burnout was observed in employees, particularly high degree in attending physicians. However, team work, high level of personal accomplishment and incident reporting culture, served as protective factors for patient safety and safe working environment and culture.