A new survey has found that over 60% of healthcare workers in emergency medicine have experienced at least one symptom of burnout during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many healthcare workers have been adversely impacted by excessive workloads and highly stressful situations during the pandemic, but the survey findings suggest that emergency medicine workers have been particularly impacted.

Burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion which can occur as a result of prolonged stress in a job. Common signs include feeling drained all of the time, feeling helpless, having a cynical outlook and feeling overwhelmed.

“Burnout in healthcare professionals may lead to alcohol and drug abuse, and even suicide. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is another common manifestation of burnout and this can have devastating long-term consequences for the individual,” explained Dr Abdo Khoury, president of the European Society for Emergency Medicine (EUSEM) which carried out the survey.

Almost 2,000 emergency medicine workers in 89 countries responded and among these, 62% had at least one symptom of burnout, while 31% had two.

“The level of burnout found means that these healthcare workers deserve professional clinical evaluation and support. Worryingly, less than half of responders to the survey (41%) reported having access to such psychological support, either face to face or at a distance,” Dr Khoury noted.

The survey also found that many of those affected by burnout were thinking of changing careers and this was more prevalent among younger workers. This, the researchers warned, could lead to understaffing issues, putting even more pressure on staff who remained.

They also pointed out the negative impact this can have on patients.

“Burnout can show itself in a distant or indifferent attitude to work, as well as reducing productivity and efficiency. It can lead to lower-quality care and an increase in medical errors,” Dr Khoury said.

He suggested that the need to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and the resulting fear of being infected with Covid themselves has been an added burden for these already stressed workers and the impact of this may still be insufficiently recognised.

“Healthcare authorities quite rightly put patient satisfaction and wellbeing at the top of their priority list. Yet the overwhelming evidence is that medical professionals have unmet needs too and that these are growing exponentially.

“An important social determinant of health is the exposure - or the lack of it – to stressful living conditions. It would be difficult to find a group of people who were more subjected to stress during the pandemic than emergency medicine specialists,” the researchers said.

They insisted that measures to reduce burnout and encourage those thinking of leaving the job to remain, are urgently needed. If this issue is not tackled, it “may become a threat to the healthcare system”.

“Many interventions have been shown to be effective in decreasing burnout and we were disappointed to see how few appear to be being implemented at present. The pandemic has shown how essential they are,” the researchers added.

Responding to the findings, the president of the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM), Dr Fergal Hickey, emphasised that if an emergency medicine worker is overworked and under stress, "this will have a negative impact on patient care".

The IAEM called for urgent action in this area. It said that emergency departments must be appropriately staffed and resourced to deal with their current workload.

A report on the EUSEM findings is published in the European Journal of Emergency Medicine and can be viewed here.