Professional burnout in doctors in medical institutions in Republic of Ghana

Introduction. Professional burnout among medical workers is known to be associated with increased workloads, for example, when medical institutions are understaffed with medical personnel, overtime work, and stressful situations. These factors also apply to medical staff in Ghanaian health care institutions. However, there is a lack of research examining how different professionals in healthcare settings in Ghana respond to burnout. There is a need to plan and develop interventions aimed at preventing burnout among healthcare workers in Ghana.

Materials and methods. Survey questions for the conduct of this study included the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) survey, which was used to assess the level of emotional burnout. At the same time, we added special questions to the questionnaire, which assessed the intensity of work of representatives of various specialties of medical institutions in Ghana. We conducted sociological survey to collect data about risk factors for diseases, which were present from the period 2018 to 2022, among workers of medical facilities in Ghana. One thousand eighty three workers participated. In this study, doctors were divided into professional groups, 4 in total. These groups were represented by the following specialties: surgery, therapy, laboratory diagnostics, representatives of the administrative level. We analyzed the data by the use of SPSS, and presented the results in descriptive statistics and correlation analysis.

Results. The study found differences in the levels of professional burnout, as well as differences in the intensity of work functions among doctors in various specialties. Thus, surgeons were characterized by the highest intensity of work (p <0.001). The therapeutic group, on the other hand, was characterized by an average level. Specialists of laboratory and diagnostic units and administrative level were distinguished by work of the least intensity. However, signs of burnout are common among surgeons, therapists, laboratory technicians, and administrators in Ghanaian hospitals.

Limitations. The lack of regulations governing the conduct and assessment of working conditions, a system for recording and investigating cases of occupational diseases, and special equipment for measuring working conditions in Ghana served as limitations to our scientific research.

Conclusion. Taking into account the results of our study to establish the facts of the development of professional burnout among medical workers in medical institutions in Ghana, it is necessary to apply preventive measures at the level of the Government of Ghana (development of a legal framework, regulatory documents, accounting and reporting forms for registration, measuring instruments and methods for their use for assessing working conditions, preventive programs).

Compliance with ethical standards. The study does not require the conclusion of the biomedical ethics committee or any other document. All participants gave informed voluntary written consent to participate in the study.

Contributions:
Akuoko E. – data acquisition for analysis, study design, data curation, conceptualization, writing the text of the manuscript, review of publications on the topic of the article;
Alenitskaia M.V. – software, editing material, writing the text of the manuscript, examination, visualization.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: March 26, 2024 / Revised: May 8, 2024 / Accepted: June 19, 2024 / Published: January 31, 2025