RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Burnout and Commitment to Primary Care: Lessons From the Early Impacts of COVID-19 on the Workplace Stress of Primary Care Practice Teams
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 57
OP 62
DO 10.1370/afm.2775
VO 20
IS 1
A1 Kelly, Erin L.
A1 Cunningham, Amy
A1 Sifri, Randa
A1 Pando, Oriana
A1 Smith, Kelsey
A1 Arenson, Christine
YR 2022
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/20/1/57.abstract
AB PURPOSE The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected all areas of health care. Primary care practices are on the front lines for patients seeking health care during this period. Understanding clinical and administrative staff members’ strategies for managing the broad-ranging changes to primary care service delivery is important for the support of workforce well-being, burnout, and commitment to primary care.METHODS Thirty-three staff members from 8 practices within a single health care system completed short, semistructured interviews from May 11, 2020 to July 20, 2020. Interviews were coded using a combination of conventional and directed content analysis.RESULTS Themes emerged from the data that mapped onto the Job Demands-Control-Social Support model. Participants reported that every aspect of primary care service delivery needed to be adapted for COVID-19, which increased their job demands significantly. Several also described pride in their development of new skills, and in most interviews, they expressed that the experience brought staff together. Staff engaged in active cognitive reframing of events during the interviews as they coped with increased workplace stress. However, as the pandemic changed from an acute stress event to a chronic stressor, staff were more likely to indicate signs of burnout.CONCLUSIONS Primary care teams absorbed tremendous burdens during COVID-19 but also found that some stress was offset by increased support from management and colleagues, belief in their own necessity, and new development opportunities. Considering high prepandemic strain levels, the ability of primary care teams to persist under these conditions might erode as the crisis becomes an enduring challenge.