Stress and burnout among professionals working in the emergency department in a French university hospital: Prevalence and associated factors

BACKGROUND: Work-related stress is a significant health and safety concern. OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of burnout and occupational stress among emergency department (ED) professionals and to identify associated factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study included all ED professionals of a French university hospital. Data were collected using the French versions of the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Karasek Job Content Questionnaire. RESULTS: Of the 166 respondents (75.8%), 19.3% reported burnout and 27.1% job strain. Factors associated with burnout were work-related dissatisfaction, fear of making mistakes, lack of time to perform tasks, and being younger. Those factors associated with job strain were having at least one sick leave in the past year, being affected by hard work, interpersonal conflicts at workplace, and sleep disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the literature, our results showed a lower prevalence of burnout among physicians but similar among paramedics. The proportion of professionals with job strain was higher than that of the whole French working population. Organizational factors and the work environment were the primary causes of burnout and job strain, while being younger was the only associated sociodemographic factor. The identification of professionals experiencing difficulty is essential to ensure patient safety, particularly in the high-risk field of emergency medicine.