Introduction

According to the World Health Organization, "Burnout syndrome occurs due to chronic stress in the workplace” and includes physical and psychological symptoms. The current COVID-19 pandemic has created an overload of work for health professionals worldwide, sometimes exceeding their capacities and even leading to suicide. Angola is a developing country and its health system is still fragile, for this reason the pandemic could have a serious impact. In March the first cases of COVID-19 were registered and their incidence progressively increased.

Objective

To determine the prevalence of Burnout Syndrome in Health Professionals who assisted suspected and confirmed cases with COVID-19 in Angola, between May and September 2020.

Methodology

An observational, descriptive and transversal study was carried out with 250 professionals (196 from Luanda and 54 from Benguela) who work in health institutions that care suspected and confirmed cases with COVID-19. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-HSS) was applied, which includes three subscales: emotional exhaustion or fatigue, depersonalization and personal fulfillment. High levels of the first two and low levels of the third are indicative of the situation. The professionals' sociodemographic information was also obtained.

Results

It was found that 60% of participants were female, mean age 35 years, with a predominance of nurses (50%). Professionals from Luanda assisted an average of 61 patients per week while those from Benguela assisted 12. The average score on the three behavior subscales was high in both genders and provinces, with significantly higher values of emotional fatigue in women and greater personal fulfillment among professionals in Luanda. Burnout Syndrome was diagnosed in 9.3% of professionals in Luanda and 4.6% in Benguela, with no statistical differences found between women and men (6.2 vs 4.5)

Conclusions

Despite the low frequency of Burnout syndrome and the fact that there are high levels of exhaustion and depersonalization at the beginning of the pandemic, it leads to believe that there will be an increase in the number of cases of Burnout due to a greater demand for work, triggered by the worsening of the pandemic. This finding should be taken into account by health system managers to safeguard the well-being of their professionals and patients, namely Work shifts with shorter periods; Integration of more professionals in understaffed service teams; encouraging breaks throughout the day; Adequate food/nutrients according to the time of day; creation of social support programs; encouragement to practice physical exercises and relaxation; monthly payment of COVID-19 epidemiological risk subsidies; Personal Protective Equipment; greater availability of drugs and materials for clinical monitoring of critically ill patients; presence of a physician specialized in intensive care in each work shift; as psychological support.

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