Provider Burnout During COVID-19

Exploring Provider Burnout During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Since the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was first reported in the Hubei province of China in December 2019, the US has become an epicenter for the pandemic, accounting for more than 220,000 cases and 4,800 deaths (CDC). The rapid spread of the associated disease, COVID-19, has overwhelmed healthcare systems in spite of unprecedented measures to reduce contagion. The resulting uncertainty with regard to the duration and magnitude of the pandemic and limited availability of resources and treatment have been detrimental to the mental health of frontline healthcare providers (NIH). Preserving the psychological wellbeing of these individuals is paramount to mitigating the effect of COVID-19 and delivering optimal patient care.

Of particularly grave concern is how professional and personal distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will affect provider burnout (Lai et al. JAMA Network Open 2020). Professional burnout, characterized by emotional exhaustion, career de-prioritization, and loss of self-efficacy, represents a significant threat to the US healthcare system (Shanafelt et al. Ann Surg 2010; Han et al. Annals of Internal Medicine 2019). While burnout has been described as a reaction to chronic work-related stress (Melamed et al. Psychol. Bull. 2006), individual factors such as anxiety increase susceptibility to burnout (Sun et al. J Occup Health 2012). Although data suggests that occupational stress might amplify risk of anxiety (DiGiacomo and Adamson J Allied Health 2001), we have yet to understand how intensified anxiety among frontline providers during global health crises contributes to burnout. Similarly, it is unknown whether factors such as perceived organizational support (POS), a key driver of job satisfaction and performance (Muse and Stamper, J Managerial Issues 2007), modify anxiety and burnout under these circumstances. We hypothesize that diminished POS in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with burnout and that this relationship is mediated by an increase in providers' anxiety. Delineating this relationship is a critical first step in developing interventions that ease the mental health burden of this pandemic and future crises for healthcare providers.

Study Overview

• Status: Withdrawn
• Conditions: Perceived Organizational Support, Anxiety, Burnout
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Coping strategies video

• Study Type: Interventional
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15218
      • UPMC

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• All UPMC healthcare providers with patient-care responsibilities (respiratory therapists, physical therapists, nursing staff, residents, attendings, midlevel providers, and clinical faculty) will be contacted via email and asked if they would be willing to participate in this study (participant recruitment email).

Exclusion Criteria:

• All individuals <18 yo and those providers without direct patient-care responsibilities will be excluded.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Coping strategies video; Individuals will be asked to watch a 1 hour long video that discusses strategies helpful in coping with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.	Behavioral: Coping strategies video; No additional description
No Intervention: Control; No additional requests will be made of individuals in the control arm.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Feasibility of undertaking task	As healthcare providers have limited time, it is unclear if this request to watch a 1 hour video on coping strategies will be a feasible intervention. We will assess how many individuals endorse actually watching this video.	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Pittsburgh
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sara P Myers, MD, PhD, University of Pittsburgh

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 29, 2020
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): October 29, 2020
• Study Completion (Anticipated): October 29, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 29, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 29, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): May 1, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 29, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 26, 2020
• Last Verified: December 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological; Burnout, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY20040051

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No