Burnout among physicians and nurses working in oncology.

BACKGROUND: The phenomenon of Burnout is an important occupational problem which affects those working in the "helping professions" to a greater degree since they have continuous and constant contact with suffering patients. AIMS: We aimed to assess the Burnout level and its correlation with organizational stressors. METHODS: The aim was achieved through administration of a questionnaire, the organizational check-up survey (OCS) among 80 physicians and 102 nurses working in a cancer institute. RESULTS: The results showed significant levels of Burnout (Exhaustion and Cynicism) associated with perceived discrepancy between the worker's values and those promoted by the hospital management, mainly among longer serving staff work overload reported by staff working in the intensive care and medical oncology departments; lack of recognition reported by permanent staff and also those who had no contact with the patients. CONCLUSIONS: The study confirmed the multiple factors involved in the phenomenon of Burnout and the usefulness of the OCS tool for the diagnosis and management of Burnout via appropriate intervention programmes. Furthermore, it also seemed to confirm the need to pay particular attention to the wellbeing of health professionals working in care and treatment of cancer patients via individual measures associated with other organizational measures.

Factors associated with an individuals' decision to withdraw from genetic counseling for BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes mutations: are personality traits involved?

The aim of the study was to evaluate factors associated with early withdrawal from oncogenetic counseling. A comparison of psycho-social and personality characteristics of two samples of subjects, attendees and withdrawers was carried out. Self-report questionnaires were completed by 112 individuals who had completed counseling and to 56 individuals who withdrew from it. Individuals with few children (OR. 1,724; p = 0,017; CI = 1,101-2,700), a lower number of cancer affected relatives (OR. 1,301; p = 0,000; CI = 1,145-1,479), and with a lower hypomanic scale score (OR. 1,070; p = 0,004; CI = 1,022-1,121), were more likely to withdraw from counseling. It is important for the counselees to draw more attention to the fact that their cancer risk management and prevention is as fundamental as that of their children. Also, it is important to highlight the fact that having less cancer affected relatives does not necessarily mean being at lower risk. In conclusion, that subjects with low levels of psychological and emotional energy are those who probably need greater psychological support during the decision making process. We deem necessary that psychologists, involved in genetic counseling, investigate these aspects during their sessions in order to implement suitable interventions of psychological support during the entire counseling process.