Physician Burnout in Primary Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in Portugal

BACKGROUND: Primary care physicians have been present on the frontline during the ongoing pandemic, adding new tasks to already high workloads. Our aim was to evaluate burnout in primary care physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as associated contributing factors. METHODS: Cross-sectional study with an online questionnaire disseminated through social media, applying the snowball technique. The target population was primary care physicians working in Portugal during the first outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to sociodemographic data, the questionnaire collected responses to the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), the Resilience Scale and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21). Data were collected from May 9 to June 8, 2020, a period comprising the declaration of a national calamity and then state of emergency, and the subsequent ease of lockdown measures. Levels of burnout in 3 different dimensions (personal, work, and patient-related), resilience, stress, depression, and anxiety were assessed. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with burnout levels. RESULTS: Among the 214 physician respondents, burnout levels were high in the 3 dimensions. A strong association was found between gender, years of professional experience, depression and anxiety, and burnout levels. CONCLUSIONS: Physician burnout in primary care is high and has increased during the pandemic. More studies are needed in the long term to provide a comprehensive assessment of COVID-19’simpact on burnout levels and how to best approach and mitigate it during such unprecedented times.