Management standards and burnout among surgeons in the United Kingdom
File(s)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
Burnout arising from chronic work-related stress is endemic among surgeons in the UK. Identification of contributory and modifiable psychosocial work characteristics could inform risk reduction activities.
Aims
We aimed to assess the extent to which surgeons’ psychosocial working conditions met aspirational Management Standards delineated by the UK Health and Safety Executive, draw comparisons with national general workforce benchmarks and explore associations with burnout.
Methods
Surgeons (N = 536) completed the Management Standards Indicator Tool and a single-item measure of burnout. Descriptive data were computed for each Standard, independent t-tests were used to examine differences between trainees and consultants, and hierarchical linear regression was applied to explore relations between psychosocial work environment quality and burnout.
Results
Psychosocial work environment quality fell short of each Management Standard. Trainee surgeons (n = 214) reported significantly poorer psychosocial working conditions than consultant surgeons (n = 322) on the control, peer support and change Standards. When compared with UK workforce benchmarks, trainees’ psychosocial working conditions fell below the 10th percentile on four Standards and below the 50th percentile on the remainder. Consultant surgeons were below the 50th percentile on five of the seven Standards. Psychosocial working conditions accounted for 35% of the variance in burnout over that accounted for by socio- and occupational-demographic characteristics.
Conclusions
Surgeons’ psychosocial working conditions were poor in comparison with benchmark data and associated with burnout. These findings suggest that risk management activities based on the Management Standards approach involving modification of psychosocial working conditions would help to reduce burnout in this population.
Burnout arising from chronic work-related stress is endemic among surgeons in the UK. Identification of contributory and modifiable psychosocial work characteristics could inform risk reduction activities.
Aims
We aimed to assess the extent to which surgeons’ psychosocial working conditions met aspirational Management Standards delineated by the UK Health and Safety Executive, draw comparisons with national general workforce benchmarks and explore associations with burnout.
Methods
Surgeons (N = 536) completed the Management Standards Indicator Tool and a single-item measure of burnout. Descriptive data were computed for each Standard, independent t-tests were used to examine differences between trainees and consultants, and hierarchical linear regression was applied to explore relations between psychosocial work environment quality and burnout.
Results
Psychosocial work environment quality fell short of each Management Standard. Trainee surgeons (n = 214) reported significantly poorer psychosocial working conditions than consultant surgeons (n = 322) on the control, peer support and change Standards. When compared with UK workforce benchmarks, trainees’ psychosocial working conditions fell below the 10th percentile on four Standards and below the 50th percentile on the remainder. Consultant surgeons were below the 50th percentile on five of the seven Standards. Psychosocial working conditions accounted for 35% of the variance in burnout over that accounted for by socio- and occupational-demographic characteristics.
Conclusions
Surgeons’ psychosocial working conditions were poor in comparison with benchmark data and associated with burnout. These findings suggest that risk management activities based on the Management Standards approach involving modification of psychosocial working conditions would help to reduce burnout in this population.
Date Issued
2023-11-01
Date Acceptance
2023-10-01
Citation
Occupational Medicine, 2023, 73 (8), pp.484-491
ISSN
0962-7480
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Start Page
484
End Page
491
Journal / Book Title
Occupational Medicine
Volume
73
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37802910
PII: 7295330
Subjects
Humans
Burnout, Professional
Surgeons
United Kingdom
Occupational Stress
Surveys and Questionnaires
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
kqad102
Date Publish Online
2023-10-06