Healthcare Employees Working in a Dialysis Center Have More Severe Burnout Syndrome than Those Working in a Satellite Dialysis Unit

Background: Healthcare professionals working with chronic patients for a long time are at risk of compassion fatigue and burnout (BO). Our study aims to compare the levels of BO and the workplace-influencing factors of health care employees working in a dialysis center or satellite unit. Methods: We conducted the present study in two types of dialysis units: a centre and a satellite. The patient’s physical status and comorbidities were quantified by Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and compared between these units. The research was conducted with 39 healthcare employees (30 nurses, 4 doctors and 5 other medical staff). Participants were enrolled using a convenience sampling technique at the dialysis outpatient services in Pécs, Hungary. Personal information forms, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), the Mini Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (MOLBI), the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS-SFI), and Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) questionnaires were used. Results: There was a significant difference in the patients’ KPS (67.9 vs. 85.7, p < 0.001) and CCI (6.62 vs. 5.55, p = 0.003) treated in center and in satellite unit. Our MBI analysis comparing the dialysis workplaces (center vs. satellite unit) revealed that health care employees report significantly higher and more severe BO working in the dialysis center compared to the satellite unit. Multiple stepwise linear regression analyses showed a strong prediction of the center workplace (p = 0.022) for BO syndrome. There was a positive correlation between MOLBI of the employees and CCI of the patients (p = 0.028, r = 0.426). Conclusions: This study confirmed that the condition of the treated patients plays an important role in the development of the BO syndrome among dialysis health care professionals. There was more severe BO employees working in the center compared to those working in the satellite unit. Our results indicate that measures to prevent BO should be implemented in dialysis units.