Burnout and Teamwork in Primary Care Teams

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of burnout and the perception of teamwork in Primary Care teams from Barcelona. Design: Multicenter cross-sectional. Location: Primary Health Care Teams from Barcelona. Institut Catala de la Salut. Participants: All permanent employees or temporary professionals of all categories from 51 teams (N = 2398). A total of 879 responses (36.7%) were obtained. Measurements: The Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire, with 3 dimensions, was sent by emotional exhaustion (AE), depersonalization (DP), and personal accomplishment (RP). Burnout is considered present when two or more dimensions scored high marks. Perception of teamwork and evaluation of leaders was evaluated using an ad hoc questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of burnout was17.2% (two or more dimensions affected), and 46.2% had at least one of the three dimensions with a high level. A high level of AE was found in 38.2%, of DP in 23.8%, and 7.7% had low RP. Almost half (49.2%) believe that teamwork is encouraged in their workplace. Social workers overall, have a higher average of dimensions affected at a high level, followed by administrative personnel, dentists, doctors and nurses (p < 0.001). Permanent staff have a greater degree of emotional exhaustion (p <0.002). Those who rated their leaders worst and least rated teamwork had more emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and higher level of burnout in general (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The level of burnout among professionals is considerable, with differences existing between occupational categories. Teamwork and appreciating their leaders protect from burnout. (C) 2013 Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. All rights reserved.