Burnout and coping strategies in paediatric and neonatal intensive care staff

Objective: Staff in paediatric and neonatal intensive care units experience high rates of burnout due to the highly stressful environment. There is growing literature describing stress and burnout, but to date, no review of the evidence specific to paediatric and neonatal intensive care. For the development of interventions to reduce and prevent burnout, there needs to be better understanding of this evidence. Little is known about coping strategies employed by critical care staff; it is important to collate and critique this literature to inform interventions. The objective of this systematic review was to examine burnout occurrence and coping strategies amongst staff working in paediatric and neonatal intensive care units.

Method: A systematic search of Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, Medline, AMED, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Nice Evidence and EMBASE was conducted following PRISMA guidelines.

Results: Studies measuring burnout and/or coping in PICU and NICU were included in the review. 22 studies met the inclusion criteria, the majority of which used a quantitative cross sectional design. Of the included studies, 14 measured burnout and 17 measured coping.

Conclusion: Staff working in paediatric and neonatal intensive care settings experience high rates of burnout. While staff may have the ability to use coping strategies, often time and lack of awareness mean they don’t. Psychologically informed interventions are required to prevent burnout and to provide staff with the tools and resources to develop healthy coping strategies in order to boost their wellbeing. Those interventions must then be formally evaluated to determine their impact on staff psychological outcomes.