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Burnout, Depression, and Stress in Emergency Department Nurses and Physicians and the Impact on Private and Work Life: A Systematic Review

A. Jachmann, A. Loser, A. Mettler, A. Exadaktylos, Martin Müller, Karsten Klingberg

Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open, 2025

49 citations

Abstract

Objectives In today’s fast-paced world, work-related stress is a prevalent problem, particularly among health care professionals in high-pressure environments such as emergency departments (EDs). This stress can lead to mental health disorders, such as depression and burnout, affecting job performance, patient care, and the quality of professional and private life. This systematic review aimed to investigate the prevalence of burnout, depression, and stress among ED nurses and physicians and the impact of these conditions on personal and professional quality of life (QoL). Methods The systematic literature search covered PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, and grey literature databases. Articles were included if they were published in English or German by 31 January 2020, focused on ED physicians or nurses, and examined burnout, depression, or stress and its impact on professional or personal QoL. Quality assessment of the included studies was performed using a modified version of the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results The systematic search resulted in 893 articles, of which 11 met the inclusion criteria. All reviewed studies had a cross-sectional study design and were of low to moderate quality. Depression, burnout, and stress were prevalent among ED physicians, ranging from 15.5% to 19.3%, 18% to 71.4%, and 19.5% to 22.7%, respectively. These were associated with lower job satisfaction in ED physicians, while findings in ED nurses also showed a considerable rate of burnout with an…

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