Assessment of mental workload and job burnout of medical employees during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran

The pandemic and the crisis caused by the COVID-19 have challenged health care organizations around the world, causing human casualties and health concerns around the world and in Iran. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the mental workload and job burnout of medical employees during the Covid-19 pandemic in Iran.

The present descriptive-analytic research has been conducted on 510 medical and diagnostic staff in the cities of Tehran, Isfahan, and Sanandaj. The mental workload and the job burnout of staff have been evaluated using NASA-TLX software and the job burnout Maslach, respectively. Statistical tests including t-test, ANOVA, and multivariate linear regression were used to analyze the data using a STATA-14 software package.

The mean mental workload of employees associated with patients suffering COVID-19 and those who were not associated was estimated at 83.7±8.1 and 79.9±9.6 respectively. The mean of job burnout was estimated at 79.6±16.2 and 79.7±16.9, respectively, which were not statistically significant. The results of linear regression showed that being married (coefficient = -6.57, P-value = 0.003), employment as a Tarh (coefficient = -12.71, P-value = 0.002), inverse relationship and Work in Isfahan hospitals (coefficient = 21.21, P-value <0.001) was directly related to burnout. Women (coefficient = 3.61, P-value <0.001), having a relationship with COVID-19 patients (coefficient = 5.9, P-value <0.001) had a direct relationship with the amount of mental work.

The mental workload and job burnout in medical employees during the Covid-19 pandemic are high and warning and the mental workload in employees who are associated with patients suffering COVID-19 is higher than other employees.