ArticlePloS one2024
Could breaks reduce general practitioner burnout and improve safety? A daily diary study.
Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- A Virtual Integrated General Practitioner-Pediatrician Model of Care Implemented in Metropolitan and Rural Primary Care Settings: Qualitative Analysis of Clinician Perspectives on the SUSTAIN Model of Care.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- "It changed the atmosphere, but how long will it last?": healthcare professionals' experiences of an intervention to improve positive communication in intensive care.Annals of intensive care · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRates of burnout are currently at record high levels, and GPs experience higher burnout than many other specialties. Organisational interventions may reduce burnout, but few studies have investigated these in primary care.
aimThe current study investigated whether breaks, both with and without social interactions, were associated with burnout and patient safety perceptions in GPs.
designA within-subjects, interval contingent, quantitative daily diary design.
settingUK GP practices.
methodParticipants completed questionnaires at baseline measuring demographic variables, burnout and patient safety perceptions. They then completed a questionnaire in the evening each day for a week which captured whether they had taken a break that day, whether it involved a positive social interaction, burnout (comprising subscales of disengagement and exhaustion), positive and negative affect and patient safety perceptions. The data were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling to assess same-day and next-day associations.
resultsWe included 241 responses from 58 GPs for analysis. Taking at least one break (involving any or no social interactions) was associated with lower disengagement that day and lower exhaustion the next day. Taking at least one break involving a positive interaction was associated with 1) lower disengagement, exhaustion, overall burnout and negative affect on the same day, as well as higher positive affect and improved perceptions of patient safety, and 2) lower exhaustion and improved patient safety perceptions on the next day.
conclusionOrganizing daily team or practice breaks where staff can socialise may help to reduce burnout and improve perceptions of patient safety.
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