the essential
Professor Fabrice Hérin, head of the occupational and environmental pathologies department at Toulouse University Hospital, led the project for the Center for the Prevention of Caregiver Burnout (PEPS). One year after its opening, he draws up an initial assessment.
What is your assessment after the first year of operation of the Burnout Prevention Center?
We have received 207 people since the 1stis May 2023, 86% of whom are women, but that’s logical, the healthcare sector is very feminized. In one year, we have seen the profile of patients broaden with a significant proportion of employees of private clinics (31%) and liberals on the rise (7%). The surprise comes from the average age of the people cared for, 41 years, when studies rather show exhaustion at the end of the career. We have a lot of caregivers aged between 25 and 35, some of whom have only practiced their profession for a few years.
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How can this be explained? Was the Covid-19 epidemic a trigger?
Covid was only an accelerator. We are facing something more anchored. The world of care has changed, with more interruptions in tasks and permanent requests (telephone, email), and many more administrative tasks: caregivers had not envisaged their job like that and when resources are lacking, they call back that they are not dealing with cans but with human beings. When we are confronted with death, with the pain of families, when we think we can do better, fatalism is no longer acceptable. The relationship with work has also changed: despite great commitment, personal life is increasingly prioritized, which causes generational conflicts or value conflicts. And, when an event occurs in personal life, it is often the tipping point, the source of collapse.
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Are your support proposals sufficient?
Demand is exploding and our resources are limited, there is currently a 40-day wait to obtain an appointment in the PEPS system, this is the main criticism of this report. We also see an increase in the duration of care, between 4 and 6 months, even when we try to intervene early. The question of setting up day hospitalization by the end of the year is on the table, for more comprehensive care, the objective being not to exceed the six-month mark. work stoppage to facilitate the return. We are responding to a need but we also lack the strength in primary prevention, to prevent professional burnout from occurring.
