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Occupational Health

Prevalence of Health Care Worker Burnout During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic in Japan

Educational Objective
To understand the prevalence of Health Care Worker burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic

1 Credit CME

JAMA Network Open

Published Online: August 4, 2020

Research Letter

Article Information and Disclosures

Takahiro Matsuo, MD¹;

Daiki Kobayashi, MD, MPH, MBA, PhD^2,3;

Fumika Taki, MD, PhD⁴;

Fumie Sakamoto, MPH, CIC⁵;

Yuki Uehara, MD, PhD^1,6;

Nobuyoshi Mori, MD¹;

Tsuguya Fukui, MD, MPH, PhD^2,3

Author Affiliations

¹Department of Infectious Diseases, St Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
²Department of General Internal Medicine, St Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
³Graduate School of Public Health, St Luke’s International University, Tokyo, Japan
⁴Department of Nephrology, St Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
⁵Quality Improvement Center, St Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
⁶Department of Clinical Laboratory Center, St Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has placed considerable psychological strain on frontline health care workers (HCWs).¹ Although the problem of burnout, which overlaps with the symptoms of depression,² remains urgent, few studies have addressed it comprehensively. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of burnout among frontline HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan based on job categories and other factors.

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Article Information

Accepted for Publication: July 8, 2020.

Published: August 4, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.17271

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2020 Matsuo T et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: Takahiro Matsuo, MD, Department of Infectious Diseases, St Luke’s International Hospital, 9-1, Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan (tmatsuo@luke.ac.jp).

Author Contributions: Dr Matsuo had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: All authors.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Matsuo, Kobayashi, Uehara.

Drafting of the manuscript: Matsuo, Kobayashi, Sakamoto.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Kobayashi, Taki, Uehara, Mori, Fukui.

Statistical analysis: Matsuo, Kobayashi.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Matsuo.

Supervision: Kobayashi, Taki, Sakamoto, Uehara, Mori, Fukui.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.

Additional Contributions: We are grateful to Torahiko Jinta, MD, PhD (Department of Respiratory Medicine, St Luke’s International Hospital), Ui Yamada, MD, PhD (Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, St Luke’s International Hospital), Hiroko Arioka, MD, PhD (Department of General Internal Medicine, St Luke’s International Hospital), Shosei Ro, MD (Department of Respiratory Medicine, St Luke’s International Hospital), and Kazuyo Kitaoka, RN, PhD (Faculty of Health Sciences, Komatsu University), for their helpful comments, discussion, and supervision. They were compensated for their time. We appreciate the significant contributions made by the participants from St Luke’s International Hospital.

References

Lai J , Ma S , Wang Y , et al. Factors associated with mental health outcomes among health care workers exposed to coronavirus disease 2019. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(3):e203976. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3976 PubMed Google Scholar

Oquendo MA , Bernstein CA , Mayer LES . A key differential diagnosis for physicians—major depression or burnout? JAMA Psychiatry. 2019;76(11):1111-1112. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.1332 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Kitaoka K , Masuda S . Academic report on burnout among Japanese nurses. Jpn J Nurs Sci. 2013;10(2):273-279. doi:10.1111/j.1742-7924.2012.00221.x PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Rafferty Y , Friend R , Landsbergis PA . The association between job skill discretion, decision authority, and burnout. Work Stress 2001;15(1):73–85. doi:10.1080/02678370120791 Google Scholar Crossref

Dewey C , Hingle S , Goelz E , Linzer M . Supporting clinicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ann Intern Med. 2020;172(11):752-753. doi:10.7326/M20-1033 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
1.00 CME points in the American Board of Surgery’s (ABS) Continuing Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.