Burnout by Kenyan medics at alarming level

NAIROBI: The country’s health workers are among the most frustrated anywhere in the world and majority are seeking a way out, the Kenya National Union (KNUN) of Nurses has said.

“Today I have a list of over 3,000 nurses who want to get out. At this rate the country may take over 60 years to attain the recommended nurse-patient ratio,” said KNUN Chairman Jeremiah Maina.

A survey carried out last year by leading psychiatrists in the country found that levels of burnout among health workers at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) were higher than anywhere else in the world. The global average they said is 66 per cent but at KNH it was 97 per cent.

Seven psychiatrists from local universities who included David Ndetei of the University of Nairobi said the country is already paying for neglecting its health workers.

“The turnover of old and experienced medical workers is very high leaving management to the young and less experienced,” the survey, which was led by consultant psychiatrist Donald Kokonya, revealed.

The single biggest cause of burnout among the workers is poor working environment characterised by too many patients, inadequate facilities and patients’ relatives, the study published in the Journal of Psychiatry showed. Nurses at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital were on strike citing lack of drugs, facilities and long working hours as factors pushing them to industrial action.

“When our workers go on strike, they are jeered and tear-gassed while being seen as gold diggers. This scientific study, which is the first in Kenya, is proof that we are no cry babies and there are serious concerns which need to be addressed,” said Maina.

The report says the Kenyan health worker is very angry and frustrated and the team was surprised that they are still functioning.

“It is a miracle that they are still working without serious consequences like happened in the UK between 1990 and 1992 when 152 nurses committed suicide which were linked to the burnout syndrome,” the study said.

Maina told The Standard that challenges facing devolution of the health sector may hold answers to the perennial problems facing the sector.

The National Health Policy, published recently by the national ministry, is the first step as it clearly spells out the responsibilities and expectations of the employer, the employee, the public and patients, he said.

“We now want this anchored in law through the proposed Health Bill 2014 which the Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia has promised to take to Parliament in coming months,” Maina said.

With the described burnout, the survey, says medical workers feel undervalued and unappreciated. “In despair, their frustrations are directed to all including patients,” the report said.