Newly Hired Health Workers during the Peak of COVID-19 show no Burnout: Resilience as a Protective Factor

Abstract

Background: Burnout syndrome is a condition in which health workers pour out very frequently, especially due to the 2020 pandemic. Aims: To deal with a possible risk of burnout due to the psychological and social pressure of the pandemic, it is good to have personal resources that work as a protective factor, such as resilience. The objective of this study is to investigate the differences between a sample of new hospital hires in 2019 and a sample of new hospital hires in 2020, in Lodi, Italy. Methods: To fulfill these purposes, a burnout test and a resilience test were used, and a dummy variable representing the condition of COVID-19 was created. Results: The results indicate that COVID-19 did not significantly affect burnout in the two samples. Limitations: Since the tests were carried out on hiring, the operators may not have been conditioned by the work weight, although Lodi was the epicenter of the pandemic in Italy. Conclusions: These data suggest that newly hired health workers would measure their work stress on personal resilience rather than the danger of COVID-19, despite government restrictions such as lockdowns, the mandatory use of safety devices, media reports on deaths and the risk of contagion.