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Professor Vedhara said: “This project is attempting to uncover aspects of the hospital working environment which potentially may be psychologically toxic and we will be doing that by asking the healthcare professionals who deliver patient care within it every day.
“Issues could be organisational, such as having to work in multidisciplinary teams where individuals have their own quite different objectives, or they could be at a far more personal level, for example in coping with a lack of administrative support or handling strained working relationships.
“These are the types of issues which many of us are faced with in our own jobs on a daily basis. The difference with doctors — and why this research is of such great importance — is that errors they may make as a result have far greater significance. Human lives are in their hands.”
The University of Nottingham is the only English partner to be involved in the study, which is being coordinated by Dr Efharris Panagapolou at the Medical School of Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece, and involves researchers in a total of nine European countries.
In the initial stage of the study, the Nottingham team will be carrying out a systematic literature review to assess the gold standards currently available for measuring quality of care, ‘burnout’ and job contentment.
They will also be using student doctors to assess whether there is a direct link between emotional state and quality of clinical skills such as suturing.
In the second stage of the project the European researchers will be gathering information on quality of care and ‘burnout’ directly from doctors at hospitals around south and south-eastern Europe through small focus groups and a questionnaire based on the six key domains of patient care as set out by the Institute of Medicine — that patient care is patient-centred, safe, effective, efficient, timely and equitable.
Among the issues they hope to shed light on is how the issue of ‘burnout’ may differ in different European countries and the role that culture has to play.
The final stage of the project will be to identify the top factors that most commonly lead to ‘burnout’ in doctors and work with the same healthcare professionals in devising strategies to minimise their impact and reduce the risk to patient care.
Assessing the effectiveness of these interventions in reducing doctors’ stress and maintaining patient safety and quality of care could form the basis for a further study in the future, the researchers say.
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Notes to editors:
Partners in the Improving quality and safety in the hospital: The link between organisational culture, burnout, and quality of care (ORCAB) project are:
Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
University of Macedonia, Greece, Department of Education and Social Policy
Ege University, Turkey
Centro de Investigacao e Intervencao Social, Portugal
Babes Bolyai University, Romania
Health Psychology Research Center, Bulgaria
Andrija Stampar School of Public Health, Croatia, Department for Environmental & Occupational Health
The institute of Occupational Health, WHO Collaborating Centre, Fyrom
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Ireland, Department of Psychology
University of Nottingham, The Institute of Work, Health and Organisations
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