Increase of burnout among emergency department professionals due to emotional exhaustion during the SARS-Cov2 pandemic: Evolution from 2016 to 2021

The objective is to establish there have been any significant changes in the evolution of levels of burnout and empathy at the different Emergency Department in our region, bearing the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic. This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in a healthy region between November 2020 and January 2021. Lleida emergency care centers. All the doctors and nurses of the health were contacted by email. Empathy was measured using the Spanish version of the Jefferson scale of physician empathy. Burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) in the version validated in Spanish. Sociodemographic data were also recorded. We compared the data with 2016 results. A total of 159 professionals agreed to participate in this study. A significant increase in the MBI score was observed in the 2020 to 2021 sample (39.5 vs 49.7), mostly due to an increase in the MBI-EE (21.5 vs 28.5), as well as an increase in the Jefferson scale of physician empathy score (112 vs 116). (P = .039). There were no differences when analyzing the association between professions (nurses or doctors) or years worked, burnout, and empathy. For 2020 to 2021, the 41 to 50 years age group showed the highest burnout (MBI score). Emergency department practitioners suffered more burnout compared to 2016, especially due to emotional exhaustion (P < .001). Despite practitioners’ improved degree of empathy, which had been described as being preventative against burnout, during the COVID-19 pandemic, over-involvement may have led to empathic stress and emotional exhaustion, giving rise to greater burnout.