Workplace Stress and Occupational Burnout Syndrome among Active Medical Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic in Mumbai

Introduction: The WHO listed COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11th, 2020. Fear of infection and isolation led to adversely affected mental health. Such working conditions may aggravate the factors causing stress. Occupational stress is the disruption of psychological and physiological homeostasis forcing the individual to deviate from normal functioning in interaction with their jobs in the work environment. Occupational burnout syndrome is a multi-dimensional characteristic of mental and somatic symptoms, due to chronic workplace stress associated with professional work. The sudden emergence of COVID 19 led to chaos amongst the medical fraternity, additional workload along with stressful working environment. The study determines the level of workplace stress and occupational burnout among the active medical workers during the COVID 19 pandemic in Mumbai.

Methods: Data was collected from 262 medical professionals using a self-reported questionnaire both online and offline with demographic and working details along with the Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey (MBI) and Workplace stress scale. Data was analyzed using the Chi-square test.

Results: 63.4% respondents aged 21-30 yrs. 49.6% had 1-5yrs of working experience, 58.8% worked 7-12 hours per day, while 67.9% worked 6 days per week. 62.6% had high levels of depersonalization on the MBI, more prevalent among males and younger age groups working for 7days a week in the hospital setting, 67.2%scored high on personal achievement component of MBI, 62.2% showed moderate levels of emotional exhaustion more in 30-40yr old and those with <10 years of working experience. 31.3% had moderate while 22.2% had severe levels of workplace stress on the stress scale. Higher proportion of stress was prevalent in age groups of 21-30 yrs.

Conclusion: Moderate to high proportions of workplace stress and Burnout syndrome was evident. Higher levels of stress were associated with higher levels of all domains of the MBI. Younger age and male gender were predisposed to burnout syndrome and stress and the level of burnout varied significantly by work profile and years of experience.