The Relationship Between Burnout in Dental Care Professionals and Patient Safety: A Scoping Review

OBJECTIVE: To identify within the published literature the relationship between the experience of burnout and patient safety. METHODS: Scoping review conducted in accordance with the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. Searches were conducted in the following databases up to and including December 2024: CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Scopus. FINDINGS: Five studies were identified as relevant to the aims of the review, with a total of 2362 dental participants. A variety of measures of burnout were adopted, and there were marked differences in the aspect of patient safety addressed. Burnout was related to the intention to leave the dental profession and, in 1 study, to self-reported errors of practice. CONCLUSIONS: The conclusions drawn from the review are limited by the marked heterogeneity in measures across the 5 studies. Some evidence suggests that burnout is related to the intention to leave the dental profession and with self-reported patient care errors.