By: Karina Monsalve
These are times of emotional wear and tear, of physical and mental fatigue due to current circumstances. Undoubtedly, there has been a growing increase in work stress in general and in work stress for health personnel in our country. One consequence of this has been the increase in burnout or medical professional burnout. In Venezuela there are no official records on the phenomenon. Although burnout rates may vary depending on organizational contexts and specific populations, all data indicate that there are currently high prevalence rates in the Venezuelan medical population. The consequences of this syndrome are broad and important and affect mental health, physical health, quality of life and the professional efficacy of health personnel in general.
Burnout syndrome or burnout It is a state of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal fulfillment, which can occur among individuals who work with people. Data is handled that affects more than 100,000,000 people of productive age worldwide.
The most important instrument in the health care of the population is the health professionals themselves, hence the relevance of placing on the table, the need to analyze the current situation suffered by our doctors and nurses, especially with the arrival of the pandemic. The occupational risks they have assumed, the work stress due to contagion and the few or no inputs they have to alleviate this situation, contribute to generating an emotional state of chronic burnout and professional exhaustion.
The deteriorated working conditions of health professionals directly and significantly influence the mental disposition of the professional, the quality of work, and the quality of the service and care provided.
According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), no other group in society has felt the impact of the pandemic more acutely than the same men and women who make up the health workforce. The burnout It has manifested itself in this population in physical, emotional and mental decay, characterized by permanent fatigue, feelings of helplessness, emotional emptiness, depression and hopelessness.
–
The most important instrument in the health care of the population is the health professionals themselves, hence the relevance of placing on the table, the need to analyze the current situation suffered by our doctors and nurses, especially with the arrival of the pandemic
–
Karina Monsalve
Likewise, these professionals experience another additional stress factor such as stigmatization for working with patients with COVID-19 and the fear of possible contagion from family and friends.
Without a doubt, the human cost of this pandemic has been high for health professionals and even more so in our country. Read the special research article of The Pitazo, where experts point out that Venezuela is left without doctors due to COVID-19. The figures are alarming, 207 deceased doctors and 67 health professionals, this mortality rate being the highest in Latin America.
Among the main consequences of the syndrome burnout in health personnel are:
a) Physical symptoms: constant headaches, gastrointestinal disorders, tachycardias, among others.
b) Psychological symptoms: anxiety, depression, aggressiveness, hostility.
c) Behavioral problems that are directly related to absenteeism, delays, deterioration in the quality of medical care, perception of low efficiency at work.
These consequences lead us to consider the need to control those risk factors that in some way reinforce the syndrome in these personnel, such as: working overtime without rest, long working hours, erroneous expectations about the effort made and their recognition, continuous contact with the suffering of the other, attention to a high number of patients to whom he must attend, lack of family support, among others.
This situation raises the need to develop prevention and intervention programs that help control and alleviate such effects and thus guarantee the physical, environmental, emotional and psychological conditions of these personnel. In addition to having specialized personnel for the diagnosis and treatment of affected individuals.
KARINA MONSALVE | @karinakarinammq
Clinical psychologist at the La Trinidad Teaching Medical Center.
The Pitazo is not responsible or endorses the opinions expressed in this article.
Karina MonsalveOpinion
–
:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/8a6951f4-3a17-11eb-aa4e-0217670beecd.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 "LIVE | Russia and China have not yet submitted vaccines to the European Medicines Agency | Inland")