ABSTRACT
Background: Burnout among health care professionals contributes to high job turnover. Within the United States, burnout among specialty palliative care (PC) providers will accentuate provider shortage problems.
Objectives: This systematic review was conducted to answer the question "what is known about burnout among specialty PC providers practicing in the United States?" More specifically, it was designed to identify the rate of burnout and factors that influence or mitigate it among PC nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PA), and physicians and to inform future research.
Data sources: An electronic literature search of studies conducted in the United States between 2012 and September 2022 was completed in Embase, PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO.
Conclusions: Analysis of 14 studies showed that there are five primary themes related to burnout among PC providers: (1) the rate of burnout, (2) the physical, psychological, and clinical manifestations of burnout, (3) predictors of burnout, (4) factors of resiliency, and (5) interventions piloted to decrease burnout. The majority of studies have delineated the physician role but have failed to determine the rate and factors of burnout among PC NPs and PAs.
Implications for practice: As NPs and PAs are integral to the PC provider workforce, future research should be designed to understand more clearly how burnout affects these two PC roles to inform efforts to sustain the PC workforce.