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.