Background: A Swedish study found that more than 16% of general practitioners (GPs) had exhaustion in spring 2021. A knowledge gap remains about the impact of COVID-19 related individual work and managerial factors on exhaustion among Swedish GPs. This study therefore explores the association between exhaustion and COVID-19 pandemic related individual work and managerial factors among Swedish GPs who managed COVID-19 patients, compared to those GPs who did not.
Methods: Cross-sectional data was drawn from the Longitudinal Occupational Health survey in Health Care Sweden study, which included a representative sample of practicing doctors in Sweden. The sample consisted of 6699 doctors with a response rate of 41.2%. This study constitutes a sample of doctors who reported working in primary care facilities at the time of data collection reaching 1013 GPs. The Burnout Assessment Tool was used to assess the level of exhaustion. Questions were also asked about pandemic related, individual work and managerial factors. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics, and multivariate logistic regression.
Results: The results showed that moral and emotional distress, excess workload and perceived unsatisfactory management (supportive, work environment and clinical management) increased the risk of GPs who managed COVID-19 patients reporting exhaustion. Furthermore, the results showed that satisfactory management can to some extent protect against the negative effects of moral and emotional distress and excess workload.
Conclusions: COVID-19 related individual work and managerial factors had a significant impact on the mental health of GPs who managed COVID-19 patients during the pandemic. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and in preparation for future major crises that have a high impact on healthcare, there is a need to investigate the measures that can be taken to enable GPs to carry out their work, while maintaining their health.