Stress, burnout, and job satisfaction in 470 health professionals in 98 apheresis units in Italy: A SIdEM collaborative study

Aims: In Italian and international background, there are no studies focusing on stress, burnout indicators, and job satisfaction in health professionals working in the apheresis units. This study aims to fill this void both for scientific and clinical reasons. Methods: The participants were 470 health professionals (220 physicians, 250 nurses), mostly female (73.4%), with an average age of 48.09 (with the 5 percentile under 32 years and the 95 percentile over 60), working in the Apheresis Units in the North (228), in the Center (131) and in the Southernislands of Italy (111). The health professionals’ years on the job were principally between one and 10 years (40.2%) or from 11 to 20 years (33.2%). The prevalent activity was therapeutic apheresis (48.5%). The selfreport questionnaires were proposed electronically by a protected online site. Results: Important stress levels were identified in the health professionals. Physicians principally showed medium (47.5%) and high (35.8%) stress levels. Stress levels of nurses were mostly low (57.7%) or medium (25.7%). Female gender in nurses [t(268)523.29; P50.001] and in physician professions [t(217)523.01; P50.03] was a risk factor for stress. Both job categories were placed at a high risk level for burnout syndrome comparing with normative scales, especially the health professionals working in the center of Italy for the scales “Emotional exhaustion” [F(2)54.39; P50.013] and “Professional inefficacy” [F(2)54.38; P50.013]. Conclusions: Health professionals working in the apheresis unit show high stress levels and burnout risk. New preventive programs and specific clinical interventions should be constructed.