Hall, L.H., Johnson, J. orcid.org/0000-0003-0431-013X, Watt, I. et al. (1 more author) (2024) Could breaks reduce general practitioner burnout and improve safety? A daily diary study. PLoS ONE, 19 (8). e0307513. ISSN 1932-6203
Abstract
Background
Rates of burnout are currently at record high levels, and GPs experience higher burnout than many other specialties. Organisational interventions may reduce burnout, but few studies have investigated these in primary care.
Aim
The current study investigated whether breaks, both with and without social interactions, were associated with burnout and patient safety perceptions in GPs.
Design
A within-subjects, interval contingent, quantitative daily diary design.
Setting
UK GP practices.
Method
Participants completed questionnaires at baseline measuring demographic variables, burnout and patient safety perceptions. They then completed a questionnaire in the evening each day for a week which captured whether they had taken a break that day, whether it involved a positive social interaction, burnout (comprising subscales of disengagement and exhaustion), positive and negative affect and patient safety perceptions. The data were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling to assess same-day and next-day associations.
Results
We included 241 responses from 58 GPs for analysis. Taking at least one break (involving any or no social interactions) was associated with lower disengagement that day and lower exhaustion the next day. Taking at least one break involving a positive interaction was associated with 1) lower disengagement, exhaustion, overall burnout and negative affect on the same day, as well as higher positive affect and improved perceptions of patient safety, and 2) lower exhaustion and improved patient safety perceptions on the next day.
Conclusion
Organizing daily team or practice breaks where staff can socialise may help to reduce burnout and improve perceptions of patient safety.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 Hall et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Psychology (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Health Sciences (Leeds) > Academic Unit of Primary Care (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 09 Dec 2024 10:25 |
Last Modified: | 09 Dec 2024 10:27 |
Published Version: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.13... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Public Library of Science |
Identification Number: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0307513 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:220576 |