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. 2022 Oct 27;17(10):e0274360.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274360. eCollection 2022.

An analysis of the causes of exhaustion among physicians working in family physician teams during the COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania

Aida Budrevičiūtė  1 , Gediminas Raila  2 , Renata Paukštaitienė  3 , Leonas Valius  2
Affiliations

An analysis of the causes of exhaustion among physicians working in family physician teams during the COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania

Aida Budrevičiūtė et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on public life around the world, influencing medicine and health, the economy, employment, science, and education. Health care specialists are key workers who faced extreme challenges posed by the pandemic, including threats to their own lives due to the rapid spread of the virus, a huge increase in workload, and professional burnout syndrome. Analysis of the factors that physicians found most exhausting during the pandemic could lay the groundwork for the effective management of future crises.

Objective: To identify the factors that physicians working in family physician (family and internal medicine) teams found most exhausting during the COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania and assess their causes.

Methods: An anonymous survey of physicians (n = 191) working in family physician teams was carried out from 21 June 2021 to 17 September 2021. Physicians signed an informed consent form prior to completion of the questionnaire. Mixed data analysis was performed, consisting of statistical analysis using the SPSS 27 software and a qualitative causal analysis.

Results: During the pandemic, physicians were most exhausted by: chaotic vaccination priorities (44.5%); unsatisfied patients (52.4%); constantly changing legislation (71.7%); the large workload (75.9%); and the malfunctioning of online systems (81.2%).

Conclusions: Physicians in family physician teams indicated the following aspects that require improvement: service provision; effective work organization for physicians; and the satisfaction of patients with decisions made during the pandemic.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Chart 1
Chart 1. The characteristics of the study population.
Chart 2
Chart 2. The distribution of respondents according to the groups of factors they found exhausting.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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