Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10397/77550
PIRA download icon_1.1View/Download Full Text
Title: A systematic review of burnout among doctors in China : a cultural perspective
Authors: Lo, D 
Wu, F 
Chan, M
Chu, R 
Li, D
Issue Date: 2018
Source: Asia Pacific family medicine, 2018, v. 17, 3, p. 1-13
Abstract: Background: Numerous studies around the world has already suggested that burnout among doctors is a global phenomenon. However, studies for burnout in doctors are relatively limited in Chinese communities when compared to the West. As risk factors, barriers to intervention and strategies combatting burnout in different parts of the world can vary a lot due to different social culture and healthcare system, study with a focus at doctors in China from a cultural perspective is a worthful endeavor. Methods: Systematic searches of databases were conducted for papers published in peer-reviewed journals from 2006 to 2016. Selection criteria included practicing doctors in Mainland China and publications written in English or Chinese. Keywords searched including "burnout", "doctors" and "China" in 3 electronic databases has been undergone. Traditional understanding of "work attitude" and "doctors' humanity" from ancient Chinese literature has also been retrieved. Results: Eleven full papers, including 9302 participants, were included in this review. The overall prevalence of burnout symptoms among doctors in China ranged from 66.5 to 87.8%. The review suggested that negative impact of burnout include association with anxiety symptoms and low job satisfaction at the individual doctors' level, and prone to committing medical mistakes affecting patient safety and higher turnover intention at the society/organizational level. Burnout was higher among doctors who worked over 40 h/week, working in tertiary hospitals, on younger age group within the profession (at age 30-40), and with negative individual perception to work and life. Conclusions and implications: The overall prevalence and adverse impact of burnout among doctors in China echo with the findings from Western studies. Young doctors and doctors working in tertiary hospitals are more at risk of burnout, probably related to shift of social culture related to the loss of medical humanities and a weak primary healthcare system. Potential strategies of managing burnout in Chinese doctors should therefore take consideration from the Chinese cultural perspective, with renaissance of medical humanities and strengthening the primary healthcare system in China.
Publisher: BioMed Central
Journal: Asia Pacific family medicine 
EISSN: 1447-056X
DOI: 10.1186/s12930-018-0040-3
Rights: © The Author(s) 2018. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
The following publication Lo, D., Wu, F., Chan, M., Chu, R., & Li, D. (2018). A systematic review of burnout among doctors in China : a cultural perspective. Asia Pacific Family Medicine, 17, 3, 1-13 is available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12930-018-0040-3
Appears in Collections:Journal/Magazine Article

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Lo_Systematic_Burnout_Among.pdf896.62 kBAdobe PDFView/Open
Open Access Information
Status open access
File Version Version of Record
Access
View full-text via PolyU eLinks SFX Query
Show full item record

Page views

124
Last Week
1
Last month
Citations as of Mar 24, 2024

Downloads

134
Citations as of Mar 24, 2024

SCOPUSTM   
Citations

90
Citations as of Mar 28, 2024

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.