Hola a tod@s, my dear friends.

José Manuel Gómez García began the week talking about burnout in ICU, and commented that, unfortunately, the data of incidence in Spain are unknown.

We are talking today about an article by Carla Teixeira from the Department of Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Emergency of the Hospital de Santo António do Centro Hospitalar do Porto and who I was fortunate to met during the last Jornadas da Medicina Intensiva de Primavera.

Published in BMC Anesthesiology, her article delve into the prevalence and risk factors by a multicenter study in ten ICU of Portugal, with the participation of 300 professionals (218 nurses and doctors 82).

You can download the free access PDF here.



The burnout rate among portuguese workers was 31%, without differences among physicians and nurses. In their study, the women had greater risk to suffer the syndrome. 

Higher levels of burnout were associated with conflicts and ethical decision making regarding withdrawing treatments. Having a temporary work contract was also identified as a risk factor. 

Conversely, working for another service of the same health care institution acts as a protective factor.


From the IC-HU Project, we think that the first thing that must be done with respect to this devastating syndrome is to make it visible to be able to diagnose it. Of course we agree with our Portuguese friends on the importance of prevention and intervention programs to manage and reduce its incidence.

This work should be considered a priority and promoted by the Administration and leaders of the services and hospitals.

We are not saying anything new: in fact, this article was the third to appear on this blog (only available in Spanish) almost two years ago.

Keep continue making visible the invisible.

Happy Friday,
Gabi