Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Care Team Burnout in Human and Veterinary Medicine

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/2801pp833

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  • Medical professionals experience higher rates of burnout than other professions due to the highly stressful nature of their environment. In 2018, 94 percent of physicians reported experiencing burnout – characterized by emotional fatigue, and feelings of depersonalization and low personal accomplishment – at some point in their careers. As emotional resources diminish, individuals become callous towards others and themselves. In the United States, this means that physicians are at least 1.4 times more likely to attempt suicide and self-harm than the general population. Veterinarians are at an even higher risk, with rates of at least 2.1 times higher than the general population. Despite these high reported rates, current burnout mitigation methods focus on symptoms rather than organizational root-cause and do not provide long-term solutions. Burnout mitigation methods that address root-cause and promote continuous improvement mindset often require structural changes alongside individual coping mechanisms and are therefore rare. Current burnout research suggests cognitive-behavioral techniques (CBT) that restructure cognition and motivate positive behavior as the most effective short-term method for stress management and burnout reduction. In this research, we explore the possibility of CBT mitigation methods as a long-term approach to burnout when implemented alongside structural changes. The Conceptual Change Model (CCM) is a culture-driven framework that focuses on cognitive restructuring and behavioral activation. The CCM promotes engaging individuals to drive improvement through educating individuals, altering their behavior, and promoting their engagement with the workplace. In the CCM, individuals are classified as “single-” or “double-loop” actors. Single-loop actors engage in reactive and workaround behavior – they address symptoms or avoid problems. Double-loop actors engage in a proactive, reflective behavior – they seek to resolve root cause. The Literature suggests organizations function better when employees are double-loop actors. This research examines these single- and double-loop learning behaviors as potential factors to mitigate burnout. A survey is used to explore the relationship between the behaviors (single and double loop) and burnout experiences in human and veterinary medicine. Organizations in the human medicine survey were located in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Indonesia, and Australia. Organizations in the veterinary medicine survey were located in the United States. Single- and double-loop questions were adapted from Mazur, McCrery, and Chen’s (2012) framework of behavior in healthcare to classify participant’s behaviors. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was used to measure burnout. Findings suggest that proactive care team members in human and veterinary medicine tend to report lower rates of burnout. There also exist some similarities in burnout experiences between care team members in human medicine and veterinary medicine. Further research is needed to validate the findings observed in this study.
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  • Pending Publication
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  • 2020-05-18 to 2021-06-19

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