A Cross-sectional Study on Stress and Burnout among the AYUSH Doctors in an Eastern Indian State during the COVID Pandemic

Background: Health care workers were at the forefront of the COVID battle. They experienced professional burnout due to long working hours in hospitals, being away from their families, the fear of getting infected and transmitting the infection to family members, and social stigma in society. Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the stress and burnout experienced by AYUSH doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic in Odisha. Methods: A concurrent mixed-methods cross-sectional study design was adopted for this study. A Google form was used to gather responses from 56 AYUSH doctors using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), preceded by in-depth interviews with 11 participants. Descriptive statistics and two-way ANOVA analyses were applied to the quantitative data, while thematic analysis was conducted for the qualitative data. Results: The in-depth interviews with AYUSH doctors revealed that 63.63% of the participants felt physically and mentally exhausted and susceptible to weakness and illness, including fear of infection; 45.45% felt frustrated; and 18.18% of respondents expressed irritation, stating that they could not endure the situation any longer and felt they were giving much while not receiving what they expected in return. Similarly, the online survey indicated that the mean (±SD) scores of personal, work-related, and COVID patient-related burnout were 49.55 (±25.51), 41.45 (±33.15), and 43.22 (±35.72), respectively. Although the average personal burnout was higher than work-related and patient care-related burnout, the difference was not statistically significant at p=0.5 when tested using two-way ANOVA. Conclusion: The AYUSH doctors experienced stress and burnout during the pandemic; however, most felt that this was part of their job and continued to provide services during the pandemic.