Burnout in health professionals

Authors

  • Zlatka Rakovec-Felser

Abstract

The dictionary defines burnout as to fail, to wear out, or to become exhausted by making excessive demands on energy, strenght, or resources. As the state of exhaustion, burnout was first described by Freudenberger in the year 1974. Independently, and at about the same time, Maslach studied the ways in which health care professionals cope with emotional tension at work and observed that many professionals were emotionally exhausted, developed negative perceptions about their patients, and experienced a crisis in their professional competence (34 %). Almost immediately after its discovery, burnout became a very popular topic. Over 1000 empirical studies were carried out, predominantly in health care (34 %) and teaching (27 %). But purpose of this article is not to get comprehensive overview of its history and prevalence only. First of all potential protective forms of interventions in health care setting. Therefore our attention is paided to following sections: – symptoms and assessment of burnout, – the prevalence, causes and consequences and – stress and depression – similarities and differences, – the teamwork and organisational interventions, – the workplace counselling system.

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Published

2006-09-01

How to Cite

Rakovec-Felser, Z. (2006). Burnout in health professionals. Slovenian Nursing Review, 40(3), 143–148. Retrieved from https://obzornik.zbornica-zveza.si/index.php/ObzorZdravNeg/article/view/2592

Issue

Section

Retrospective (archive)