Background: Burnout is a growing problem among healthcare professionals and may be mitigated and even prevented by measures designed to promote empathy and resilience. Objectives: We studied the association between burnout and empathy in primary care practitioners in Lleida, Spain and investigated possible differences according to age, sex, profession, and place of practice (urban versus rural). Methods: All general practitioners (GPs) and family nurses in the health district of Lleida (population 366 000) were asked by email to anonymously complete the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) between May and July 2014. Tool consistency was evaluated by Cronbach’s α, the association between empathy and burnout by Spearman’s correlation coefficient, and the association between burnout and empathy and sociodemographic variables by the χ² test. Results: One hundred and thirty-six GPs and 131 nurses (52.7% response rate) from six urban and 16 rural practices participated (78.3% women); 33.3% of respondents had low empathy, while 3.7% had high burnout. The MBI and JSPE were correlated (P < .001) and low burnout was associated with high empathy (P < .05). Age and sex had no influence on burnout or empathy. Conclusion: Although burnout was relatively uncommon in our sample, it was associated with low levels of empathy. This finding and our observation of lower empathy levels in rural settings require further investigation.

The objective of this study is to assess the association between levels of empathy and burnout of emergency professionals in all the assistance levels. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the health region of Lleida and the Pyrenees with 100 professionals from the field of Urgency. Participation reached 40.8%. Empathy and burnout were measured using the Spanish versions of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) respectively. The total MBI score and its 3 dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment) were analyzed. The JSPE and MBI scores were categorized into tertiles that were identified as “low,” “moderate,” and “high” levels. The median (interquartile range) was 112 (102–123) and 37 (27–53.5) for the JSPE and MBI scores respectively. Professionals with high burnout (MBI≥47) showed the lowest levels of empathy, that is, JSPE score of 105 (98–114); those with moderate burnout (31≤MBI < 47) had a JSPE score of 114 (104.5–120.5); and those with low burnout (MBI < 31) had a JSPE score of 120.5 (105.8–127.2). In addition, the highest levels of empathy were associated with the lowest levels of burnout, especially in depersonalization, and to a lesser extent in personal accomplishment. There were no differences in empathy and burnout for any of the other study variables. Our findings suggest that the empathy of emergency professionals is associated with burnout. Hence, reducing professional burnout could help keep emergency professionals’ empathy levels high, which in turn would ensure a better quality of care. Nevertheless, it would be necessary to carry out prospective studies to describe the profiles of burnout and empathy as well as their association and evolution.

To investigate the association between sick leave prescription and physician burnout and empathy in a primary care health district in Lleida, Spain. This descriptive study included 108 primary care doctors from 22 primary care centers in Lleida in 2014 (183,600 patients). Burnout was measured with the Maslach Burnout Inventory and empathy with the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy. The reliability of the instruments was measured by calculating Cronbach’s alpha and normal distribution was analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov-Lilliefors and χ² tests. Burnout and empathy scores were analyzed by age, sex, and place of work (urban vs rural). Sick leave data were obtained from the Catalan Health Institute. High empathy was significantly associated with low burnout. Neither empathy nor burnout were significantly associated with sick leave prescription. Sick leave prescription by physicians is not associated with physicians' empathy or burnout and may mostly depend on prescribing guidelines.

The doctor-patient relationship is a crucial aspect of primary-care practice Research on associations between quality of care provision and burnout and empathy in a primary care setting could improve this relationship. Cross-sectional study of family physicians (108) and nurses (112) of twenty-two primary care centers in the health district of Lleida, Spain. Empathy and burnout were measured using the Jefferson Physician Empathy Scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory, while quality of care delivery was evaluated using Quality Standard Indicator scores. JPSE and MBI results were grouped into low, medium, and high scores to analyze associations with QSI scores and sociodemographic variables. The mean QSI score recorded for the family physicians and nurses was 665 (out of a total of 1000). Higher, albeit insignificant, QSI scores were observed for practitioners with high burnout. No differences were observed according to level of empathy (p > 0.05). The differences with respect to sex, age, and area of practice (urban vs rural center) were not significant. Practitioners with low empathy had higher QSI scores than those with high empathy (672.8 vs. 654.4) while those with high burnout had higher scores than those with low burnout (702 vs. 671). Burnout and empathy did not significantly influence quality of care delivery scores in 22 primary care centers. More studies, however, are needed to investigate the unexpected trend observed that suggests that physicians and nurses with higher levels of burnout provide higher quality care.

Background: The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is an instrument commonly used to evaluate burnout syndrome. The goal of the present study was to assess the internal reliability and the performance of the items and the subscales of the MBI-HSS (the version for professionals working in human services) by validating its factorial structure in Spanish urgency healthcare personnel.Methods: Cross-sectional study including 259 healthcare emergency professionals (physicians and nurses) in the Spanish health region of Lleida and the Pyrenees. Burnout was measured using the Spanish validated version of the MBI-HSS. Internal reliability was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The sampling adequacy was assessed using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure along with the Bartlett’s test of sphericity. A principal axis exploratory factor analysis with an oblique transformation of the solution and a confirmatory factor analysis with maximum likelihood estimation were performed. Goodness-of-fit was assessed by means of the chi-square ratio by the degrees of freedom, the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) and the comparative fit index (CFI).Results: The three subscales showed good internal reliability with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients exceeding the critical value of 0.7. Exploratory factor analysis revealed five factors with eigenvalues greater than 1. Nevertheless, confirmatory factor analysis showed a relatively satisfactory fit of the three-factor structure (χ²/df = 2.6, SRMR = 0.07, RMSEA = 0.08, TLI = 0.87, CFI = 0.89), which was improved when several items were removed (χ²/df = 1.7, SRMR = 0.04, RMSEA = 0.05, TLI = 0.97, CFI = 0.98).Conclusions: Although it is necessary exploring new samples to get to more consistent conclusions, the MBI-HSS is a reliable and factorially valid instrument to evaluate burnout syndrome in health professionals from the Spanish emergency services.

Good physician-patient communication can favor the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits, which is essential in high blood pressure (BP) management. More empathic physicians tend to have lower burnout and better communication skills. We analyzed the association between burnout and empathy among primary care physicians and nurses and investigated the influence on BP control performance. Descriptive study conducted in 2014 investigating burnout and empathy levels in 267 primary care physicians and nurses and BP control data for 301,657 patients under their care. We administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy and defined good BP control as a systolic BP <130 mmHg. Low burnout and high empathy were observed in 58.8% and 33.7% of practitioners, respectively. Burnout and empathy were significantly negatively associated (p < 0.009). Practitioners with high empathy and low burnout had significantly better BP control and performance than those with low empathy and high burnout (p < 0.05). Low burnout and high empathy were significantly associated with improved BP control and performance, possibly in relation to better physician/nurse-patient communication.