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Multicenter Study
. 2020 Aug 6;18(1):271.
doi: 10.1186/s12955-020-01504-y.

Investigating the association between physicians self-efficacy regarding communication skills and risk of "burnout"

Andrea Messerotti  1 , Federico Banchelli  2 , Silvia Ferrari  3 , Emiliano Barbieri  1 , Francesca Bettelli  1 , Elena Bandieri  4 , Davide Giusti  1 , Hillary Catellani  1 , Eleonora Borelli  5 , Elisabetta Colaci  1 , Valeria Pioli  1 , Monica Morselli  1 , Fabio Forghieri  1 , Gian Maria Galeazzi  3 , Roberto Marasca  1 , Sarah Bigi  6 , Roberto D'Amico  2 , Peter Martin  7 , Fabio Efficace  8 , Mario Luppi  1 , Leonardo Potenza  9
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Investigating the association between physicians self-efficacy regarding communication skills and risk of "burnout"

Andrea Messerotti et al. Health Qual Life Outcomes. .

Abstract

Background: Breaking bad news (BBN) may be associated with increasing risk of burnout in practising physicians. However, there is little research on the association between the way bad news is broken and burnout. We investigated the association between physicians' self-efficacy regarding communication to patients and risk of burnout.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study by proposing an ad-hoc survey exploring attitudes and practice regarding BBN and the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Human Service Survey to 379 physicians from two University Hospitals in Italy. Associations were assessed by multivariable logistic regression models.

Results: Two-hundred twenty-six (60%) physicians returned the questionnaires. 76% of physicians acquired communication skills by observing mentors or colleagues, 64% considered BBN as discussing a poor prognosis, 56% reported discussing prognosis as the most difficult task, 38 and 37% did not plan a BBN encounter and considered it stressful. The overall burnout rate was 59%. Considering BBN a stressful task was independently associated with high risk of burnout (OR 3.01; p = 0.013). Planning the encounter (OR = 0.43, p = 0.037), mastering communication skills (OR = 0.19, p = 0.034) and the self-evaluation as good or very good at BBN (OR 0.32; 0.15 to 0.71; p = 0.0) were associated with low risk of burnout.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that some physicians' BBN attitudes and knowledge of conceptual frameworks may influence the risk of burnout and support the notion that increasing knowledge about communication skills may protect clinicians from burnout. Further research is needed in this area.

Keywords: Attitudes; Breaking serious news; Burnout; Communication skills.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a,b. Study design flowchart and burnout analysis. a. The flowchart shows physicians’ characteristics and responses at the questionnaires. b. Burnout rates in consultants and residents and according to their branch of medical practice. Dark grey segments represent physicians with burnout in at least one dominion. Light grey segments represent physicians without burnout
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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