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Effect of emergency physician burnout on patient waiting times

Internal and Emergency Medicine volume 13, pages 421–428 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Burnout is common in emergency physicians. This syndrome may negatively affect patient care and alter work productivity. We seek to assess whether burnout of emergency physicians impacts waiting times in the emergency department. Prospective study in an academic ED. All patients who visited the main ED for a 4-month period in 2016 were included. Target waiting times are assigned by triage nurse to patients on arrival depending on their severity. The primary endpoint was an exceeded target waiting time for ED patients. All emergency physicians were surveyed by a psychologist to assess their level of burnout using the Maslach Burnout Inventory. We defined the level of burnout of the day in the ED as the mean burnout level of the physicians working that day (8:30 to the 8:30 the next day). A logistic regression model was performed to assess whether burnout level of the day was independently associated with prolonged waiting times, along with previously reported predictors. Target waiting time was exceeded in 7524 patients (59%). Twenty-six emergency physicians were surveyed. Median burnout score was 35 [Interquartile (24–49)]. A burnout level of the day higher than 35 was independently associated with an exceeded target waiting time (adjusted odds ratio 1.54, 95% confidence interval 1.39–1.70), together with previously reported predictors (i.e., day of the week, time of the day, trauma, age and daily census). Burnout of emergency physicians was independently associated with a prolonged waiting time for patients visiting the ED.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr EC Baker (Royal London Hospital, London UK) and Pr T Simon (Hopital Saint Antoine, Paris) for their help and support.

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Affiliations

  1. Emergency Department, Hopital Avicenne, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (APHP), Bobigny, France

    Carla De Stefano & Frederic Adnet

  2. Emergency Department, service d’accueil des urgences, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, APHP, 47-83 bd de l’hôpital, 75013, Paris, France

    Anne-Laure Philippon, Pierre Hausfater, Bruno Riou & Yonathan Freund

  3. Paris Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Paris, France

    Anne-Laure Philippon, Pierre Hausfater, Bruno Riou & Yonathan Freund

  4. Plateforme de recherche Clinique de l’est Parisien (URCEST-CRCEST), APHP, Hôpital St Antoine, Paris, France

    Evguenia Krastinova

  5. Université Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris XIII Nord, Bobigny, France

    Carla De Stefano & Frederic Adnet

Authors
  1. Carla De Stefano
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  2. Anne-Laure Philippon
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  3. Evguenia Krastinova
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  4. Pierre Hausfater
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  5. Bruno Riou
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  6. Frederic Adnet
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  7. Yonathan Freund
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Contributions

YF had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. All authors had full access to data. Complete database can be obtained via the corresponding author (YF).

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yonathan Freund.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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This study has not been funded, no compensation has been received.

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De Stefano, C., Philippon, AL., Krastinova, E. et al. Effect of emergency physician burnout on patient waiting times. Intern Emerg Med 13, 421–428 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11739-017-1706-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11739-017-1706-9

Keywords

  • Waiting times
  • Emergency department
  • Burnout