Wellness and Coping of Physicians Who Worked in ICUs During the Pandemic: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional North American Survey

Abstract

Objectives: Few surveys have focused on physician moral distress, burnout, and professional fulfilment. We assessed physician wellness and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: Cross-sectional survey using four validated instruments.

Setting: Sixty-two sites in Canada and the United States.

Subjects: Attending physicians (adult, pediatric; intensivist, nonintensivist) who worked in North American ICUs.

Intervention: None.

Measurements and main results: We analysed 431 questionnaires (43.3% response rate) from 25 states and eight provinces. Respondents were predominantly male (229 [55.6%]) and in practice for 11.8 ± 9.8 years. Compared with prepandemic, respondents reported significant intrapandemic increases in days worked/mo, ICU bed occupancy, and self-reported moral distress (240 [56.9%]) and burnout (259 [63.8%]). Of the 10 top-ranked items that incited moral distress, most pertained to regulatory/organizational ( n = 6) or local/institutional ( n = 2) issues or both ( n = 2). Average moral distress (95.6 ± 66.9), professional fulfilment (6.5 ± 2.1), and burnout scores (3.6 ± 2.0) were moderate with 227 physicians (54.6%) meeting burnout criteria. A significant dose-response existed between COVID-19 patient volume and moral distress scores. Physicians who worked more days/mo and more scheduled in-house nightshifts, especially combined with more unscheduled in-house nightshifts, experienced significantly more moral distress. One in five physicians used at least one maladaptive coping strategy. We identified four coping profiles (active/social, avoidant, mixed/ambivalent, infrequent) that were associated with significant differences across all wellness measures.

Conclusions: Despite moderate intrapandemic moral distress and burnout, physicians experienced moderate professional fulfilment. However, one in five physicians used at least one maladaptive coping strategy. We highlight potentially modifiable factors at individual, institutional, and regulatory levels to enhance physician wellness.

Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Burns disclosed that the Canadian Critical Care Society (CCSS) paid for the statistical analyses. Dr. Lorens received funding from the CCCS. Drs. Lorens and Kerlin disclosed work for hire. Drs. Viglianti, Kohn, Peltan, and Schnapp received support for article research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Fox-Robichaud’s institution received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Hamilton Academic Hospitals. Dr. Mathews’ institution received funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI); he received funding from Roivant/Kinevant Sciences. Dr. Jain is supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) T32AG019134, the Pepper Scholar Award from Yale Claude D. Pepper Older American Independence Center (P30AG021342), NIA of the NIH GEMSSTAR Award (R03AG078942), Parker B. Francis Fellowship Award, and Yale Physician-Scientist Development Award. Drs. Akgun and Crothers disclosed government work. Dr. Gershengorn received funding from the American Thoracic Society (ATS), Gilead Sciences, and Southeastern Critical Care Summit. Dr. Martin’s institution received funding from BARDA; he received funding from Genetech. Dr. Stapleton disclosed that she is chair of DSMB for Altimmune and a member of the ATS Board of Directors 2019–2021 (elected to Chair the Critical Care Assembly which includes a position on the Board). Dr. Attia’s institution received funding from the NHBLI (NHLBI K23 HL129888 and R03 [pending]), the Centers for Aids Research, and Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study. Dr. Maddux’s institution received funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (K23HD096018) and the Francis Family Foundation. Dr. Bagshaw received funding from Baxter and Bioporto. Dr. Crothers’ institution received funding from the NIH and Veteran’s Affairs. Dr. Peltan’s institution received funding from Regeneron and Asahi Kasei Pharma; he received funding from the NIH (K23GM129661) and Janssen. Dr. Schnapp received funding from UptoDate and Elsevier. Dr. Kraft’s institution received funding from the NIH, the American Lung Association, Sanofi, and AstraZeneca Consulting; she received funding from Sanofi, Astra-Zeneca, Chiesi Speaking, and UptoDate; she disclosed she is a cofounder and Chief Medical Officer of RaeSedo LLC. The remaining authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest.

Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

Figures

Figure 1.

Responses to the Stanford professional fulfillment index. Depicts physician responses to each of the questions in the three domains of the Stanford professional fulfillment (23) including professional fulfillment six items), work exhaustion (four items), and interpersonal disengagement (six items).

Figure 2.

Physicians’ use of coping strategies during the pandemic. Depicts physician’s self-reported use of each of the 14 coping strategies included in the Brief Cope (24) instrument.