ReviewSouth African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care2024
A review of burnout among doctors in South Africa: Pre-, during and post-COVID-19 pandemic.
Review in South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Life in the slow lane: reflective practice in postgraduate Emergency Medicine training in South Africa.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2026Review
- Preventing and reducing burnout globally: a six continent thematic assessment.Research connections · 2026Article
- Burnout in healthcare professionals.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2026Article
- Burnout and perceived stress in medical interns working at a hospital in Windhoek, Namibia.Journal of the colleges of medicine of South Africa · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBurnout is defined as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress, which has been unsuccessfully managed. By increasing the occupational challenges faced by doctors, the COVID-19 pandemic potentiated their risk for burnout. This review aimed to determine the prevalence and determinants of burnout among doctors working in South African health facilities pre-, during and post-COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsA narrative literature review was conducted. PubMed, SCOPUS and EBSCO databases were searched for English publications until April 2024.
resultsA total of 22 cross-sectional studies were included. The prevalence of burnout among doctors working in South African health facilities ranged from 4% to 84% pre-pandemic and 58.9% to 78.0% during and post pandemic, respectively. The lower value of the burnout prevalence range was higher during the pandemic. This review confirmed that individual factors (gender, age, marital status, junior status, practice setting) as well as occupational factors (workload, job control, moral distress, health system issues, job satisfaction, support at work and resilience) were associated with burnout in doctors. There was no significant association between burnout and factors related to COVID-19.
conclusionWhile considerable variability exists in the prevalence of burnout among doctors working in South African health facilities, pre-, during and post-COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic resulted in greater burnout rates. Factors associated with burnout include both individual and organisational factors, which need to be addressed to mitigate burnout.Contribution: Mitigation of burnout in South African health facilities should focus on individual-based and context-related interventional measures at an organisational level.
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Registered trials
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