Burnout, Depression, and Stress in Emergency Department Nurses and Physicians and the Impact on Private and Work Life: A Systematic Review

Objectives: In today's fast-paced world, work-related stress is a prevalent problem, particularly among health care professionals in high-pressure environments such as emergency departments (EDs). This stress can lead to mental health disorders, such as depression and burnout, affecting job performance, patient care, and the quality of professional and private life. This systematic review aimed to investigate the prevalence of burnout, depression, and stress among ED nurses and physicians and the impact of these conditions on personal and professional quality of life (QoL). Methods: The systematic literature search covered PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, and grey literature databases. Articles were included if they were published in English or German by 31 January 2020, focused on ED physicians or nurses, and examined burnout, depression, or stress and its impact on professional or personal QoL. Quality assessment of the included studies was performed using a modified version of the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results: The systematic search resulted in 893 articles, of which 11 met the inclusion criteria. All reviewed studies had a cross-sectional study design and were of low to moderate quality. Depression, burnout, and stress were prevalent among ED physicians, ranging from 15.5% to 19.3%, 18% to 71.4%, and 19.5% to 22.7%, respectively. These were associated with lower job satisfaction in ED physicians, while findings in ED nurses also showed a considerable rate of burnout with an inverse association with compassion satisfaction. Burnout and stress were significantly associated with intentions to quit emergency medicine in ED physicians, whereas no association was found for depression. In addition, burnout showed a negative relationship to work-life balance and QoL, while higher stress levels were associated with lower life satisfaction in ED physicians. Conclusion: Our review underlines the high prevalence of stress, depression, and burnout among ED health care professionals and their potential negative impact on private and professional life, emphasizing the need for targeted support and interventions to enhance resilience, reduce stress, and prevent the onset or deterioration of mental health diseases. This, in turn, can contribute to maintaining and strengthening the already limited human resources in EDs, ensuring the quality of patient care, and strengthening health care systems.