Burnout is associated with amount of work and sleep quality of public-school dentists in the Caraga region

Abstract

Objectives. Public health dentists in the Philippines are being made to treat more patients and do other tasks despite being underpaid. Despite this, there is a dearth of information on burnout and its association with Filipino public-school dentists. Thus, this study aimed to assess the burnout levels and their association with the amount of work and sleep quality.

Methods. There were 10 out of 14 dentists from the Caraga Region who responded and answered a self-directed and self-reported online questionnaire composed of 52 questions that gauged sociodemographic data, sources of burnout, level of burnout, lower back pain, and sleep quality.

Results. Based on the results of the study, dentists with more than 40,000 patients (rs=0.81, p=0.005), in charge of more than one municipality (rs=0.67, p=0.035) and more than one school (rs=0.67, p=0.035), and with poor sleep (rs=1, p=0.005) experience more burnout.

Conclusion. The level of burnout is high in Filipino public-school dentists. In this study, burnout was associated with dentists who have poor sleep, having to serve more than 40,000 patients, more than one municipality, and more than one school. The legal bases for oral health and other pertinent memorandum orders from concerned government organizations should be revisited.