#0127 Sleep Can Help Mitigate Burnout in Healthcare Workers

Sleep Can Help Mitigate Burnout in Healthcare Workers

Long-term job stress can often lead to burnouts. According to recent findings, healthcare personnel are particularly vulnerable to burnouts, caused by long working hours and sleep deprivation. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a testament to this fact, with medical professionals working round the clock. While burnout can result from long working hours as well as inadequate sleep, studies so far have treated them independently in evaluating their association with burnout.

Now, in a recent study, researchers from China Medical University, Taiwan, have examined the impact of prolonged work hours on burnout with sleep hours as a potential mediator. The team collected data on the working and sleeping hours of 2081 health care personnel (369 physicians, 973 nurses, 391 technicians, and 348 administrators) at a medical center in Taiwan during 2016-2017 and compared their relative burnout levels.

They found that the burnout scores increased in a non-linear fashion with average weekly working hours, with the odds ratio doubling for a 60-hour work week compared to a 40-hour work week, tripling for a 74-hour work week and quadrupling for 84. Moreover, working hours were inversely correlated with sleeping hours, suggesting that sleep was indeed a partial mediator of the association.

Interestingly, burnout among physicians was less affected by the increasing working hours compared to other healthcare workers. The team estimated that the proportion of the effect of working hours on burnout that could be eliminated through sleep deprivation was 25%-73% for physicians and 7%-29% for nurses.

These results clearly demonstrate the adverse effects of long working hours on healthcare professionals and suggests longer sleeping hours as a viable intervention strategy. Since reducing work hours is challenging amidst the pandemic, encouraging health care professionals to get adequate sleep is crucial for delivering high-quality medical care in hospitals and institutions.

Link to the original journal article:
https://academic.oup.com/joh/article/63/1/e12228/7249820

Title of the paper:
Long working hours and burnout in health care workers: Non-linear dose-response relationship and the effect mediated by sleeping hours— A cross-sectional study

Authors:
Ro-Ting Lin, Yu-Ting Lin, Ying-Fang Hsia and Chin-Chi Kuo

DOI:
10.1002/1348-9585.12228