Summary

Evolution of burnout, professional fulfillment, and self-compassionate improvement perspective among health care professionals during a prolonged health crisis: differential characteristics of emergency physicians

María de los Ángeles López-Hernández¹, Elena Lorenzo -Sánchez², Iluminada López-Hernández³, Mickey Trockel⁴

Affiliation of the authors

¹Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain. ²Departamento de Psicología Cognitiva, Social y Organizacional, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. ³Aeromédica Canaria SL, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. ⁴Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA.

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López-Hernández MA, Lorenzo-Sánchez E, López-Hernández I, Trockel M. Evolution of burnout, professional fulfillment, and self-compassionate improvement perspective among health care professionals during a prolonged health crisis: differential characteristics of emergency physicians. Rev Esp Urg Emerg. 2026;5:30–5

Summary

OBJECTIVE. To understand the evolutionary pattern of burnout, professional fulfillment, and self-assessment among health care professionals facing a prolonged health crisis, with a focus on the differential characteristics of emergency physicians.
MATERIALS AND METHODS. We conducted a national, observational, randomized study via e-mail. Participation was anonymous and voluntary. Data were collected in 3 phases, corresponding to waves of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022). The survey was based on the Spanish version of the Professional Fulfillment Index and compassion-with scoring guidelines, adapted from the
Stanford Medicine WellMD Center, 2017.
RESULTS. A total of 540 health care professionals participated (50.4 % men), aged 25-69 years (M, 47.57; SD, 10.5). Of these, 78.3 % were physicians, 14.3 % nurses, and 7.3 % other professions. There were 116 emergency physicians. Burnout scores were: first wave (n = 245) mean 1.25 (SD, 0.74); third wave (n = 159) mean 1.61 (SD 0.83); sixth wave (n = 136) mean 1.46 (SD, 0.76).
Statistical analysis showed F 10.93; P < .001; n 20.20; B0.22. Professional fulfillments cores across waves were: first wave mean, 2.37 (SD 0.97); third wave mean, 2.28 (SD, 0.55); sixth wave mean, 2.32 (SD, 0.76). Statistical analysis showed F 0.77; P = .465; n 2 0.06; B0.22. Self-assessment scores across waves were: first wave mean 2.09 (SD, 0.99); third wave mean, 1.74 (SD, 0.69); sixth wave
mean, 1.95 (SD 0.66). Statistical analysis showed F 9.00; P < .001; n 0.19; B 0.82. Emergency physicians, specifically, showed a mean of 1.48 (SD, 0.91) for burnout, 2.27 (SD, 0.66) for professional fulfillment, and 1.93 (SD, 0.73) for self-assessment.
CONCLUSIONS. The pandemic led to an increase in burnout prevalence and a decrease in self-assessment and professional fulfillment among health care professionals. While emergency physicians initially presented with the worst data, their evolutionary recovery pattern differed, showing a better response in their self-assessment, reaching their best value in the last wave. The training and practice in managing prolonged stress among emergency physicians might influence their psychosocial recovery.