ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship of the emotional exhaustion domain of burnout with care team composition in a Midwestern primary care practice network. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: We studied 420 family medicine clinicians (253 physicians and 167 nurse practitioners/physician assistants [NP/PAs]) within a large integrated health system throughout 59 Midwestern communities. The observational cross-sectional study utilized a single-question clinician self-assessment of the emotional exhaustion domain of burnout on a scale of 0 (never) to 6 (daily) conducted between March 1 and April 2, 2018, and administrative data collected between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2017. We used a multivariable linear mixed model for data analysis, adjusted for clinical- and team-level factors, including clinician sex, panel size and complexity, clinician type (physician or NP/PA), clinician full-time equivalent (FTE), total care team panel size, and number of clinicians on the care team. RESULTS: Among 217 survey respondents (51.7%), the median frequency of the emotional exhaustion domain of burnout was once per week. Adjusted analyses revealed that a greater proportion of physician FTE on the care team was associated with a lower emotional exhaustion domain of burnout among individual clinicians (P=.05). Female clinicians had a higher emotional exhaustion domain of burnout than male clinicians (P=.05). None of the other variables in the model were associated with emotional exhaustion. CONCLUSION: Primary care teams containing both physicians and NP/PAs had lower levels of emotional exhaustion with increasing proportion of physician FTE. More work is needed to explore what other variables may be associated with burnout in primary care team-based practices.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The use of a collaborative care management (CCM) model can dramatically improve short- and long-term treatment outcomes for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Patients with comorbid personality disorder (PD) may experience poorer treatment outcomes for MDD. Our study seeks to examine the differences in MDD treatment outcomes for patients with comorbid PD when using a CCM approach rather than usual care (UC). METHODS: In our retrospective cohort study, we reviewed the records of 9614 adult patients enrolled in our depression registry with the clinical diagnosis MDD and the diagnosis of PD (Yes/No). Clinical outcomes for depression were measured with Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores at 6 months. RESULTS: In our study cohort, 59.4% of patients (7.1% of which had comorbid PD) were treated with CCM, as compared with 40.6% (6.8% with PD) treated with UC. We found that the presence of a PD adversely affected clinical outcomes of remission within both groups, however, at 6 months patients with PD had significantly lower MDD remission rates when treated with UC as compared with those treated with CCM (11.5% vs 25.2%, P = .002). Patients with PD in the UC group were also noted to have an increased rate of persistent depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 score ≥10) at 6 months as compared with those in the CCM group (67.7% vs 51.7%, P = .004). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with comorbid MDD and PD, clinical outcomes at 6 months were significantly improved when treated with CCM compared with UC. This finding is encouraging and supports the idea that CCM is an effective model for caring for patients with behavioral concerns, and it may be of even greater benefit for those patients being treated for comorbid behavioral health conditions.
