ORIGINAL ARTICLE   Free access

Minerva Anestesiologica 2021 May;87(5):556-66

DOI: 10.23736/S0375-9393.20.14853-3

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Post-traumatic stress disorder, burnout and their impact on global functioning in Italian emergency healthcare workers

Claudia CARMASSI ¹, Paolo MALACARNE ², Valerio DELL’OSTE ¹ ✉, Carlo A. BERTELLONI ¹, Annalisa CORDONE ¹, Claudia FOGHI ¹, Liliana DELL’OSSO ¹

¹ Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy; ² Anesthesia and Intensive Care Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana (AOUP), Pisa, Italy

BACKGROUND: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and burnout are severe and frequent conditions among emergency healthcare workers exposed to repeated work-related traumatic experiences. The aim of the present study was to investigate PTSD, burnout and global functioning in a sample of emergency healthcare workers (HCWs) of a major university hospital in Italy, exploring possible correlations between the two constructs.
METHODS: The study sample included 137 medical and nursing Emergency Room and Intensive Care Unit staff members of a major University Hospital in Italy (Pisa), all assessed by means of the Trauma and Loss Spectrum - Self Report (TALS-SR), for post-traumatic stress spectrum, the Professional Quality of Life Scale - Revision IV (ProQOL R-IV), for burnout related to work activities, and the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS), for global functioning.
RESULTS: Forty-nine subjects reported a full (18, 14.3%) or partial (31, 24.6%) symptomatological DSM-5 PTSD. HCWs with PTSD reported significantly higher burnout scores and global functioning impairment compared to those without PTSD. Mean to good significant correlations emerged between the TALS-SR total and domains scores, the ProQOL subscales and the WSAS scores.
CONCLUSIONS: This work, conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic, underlines a positive correlation between burnout and post-traumatic stress spectrum symptoms in emergency HCWs, showing the need for a deeper assessment of work-related post-traumatic stress symptoms in such population in order to improve the well-being and to prevent burnout.

KEY WORDS: Stress disorders, post-traumatic; Burnout, psychological; Intensive Care Units; Health personnel; Emergency service, hospital