Burnout in Healthcare Workers: Factors, Impacts, and Management Strategies

Abstract

Thailand’s public health system is facing multiple challenges, including rapidly rising service demand, resulting in continuous overtime work that leads to burnout, a work-related syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced sense of personal accomplishment caused by chronic occupational stress. Burnout degrades care quality by increasing the risk of clinical error and lowering productivity, with downstream costs for both patients and organizations. This article reviews definitions and dimensions of burnout among Thai health-care workers and examines its effects on service quality and workers’ mental health. Using a literature review and content analysis of 27 documents, guided by the Job Demands–Resources framework, we map antecedents and consequences across settings.

Evidence indicates that burnout remains urgent in Thailand; in some contexts especially during COVID-19 prevalence in public hospitals exceeded 30%, reflecting heavy workloads and inadequate resources. We synthesize multilevel responses: (i) individual resilience and stress-management skills and work–life-balance supports; (ii) organizational equitable workload and staffing, fair scheduling, streamlined administrative tasks, recognition systems, and psychosocial support; and (iii) policy workforce planning, resource investment, and national guidelines that institutionalize occupational well-being. Coordinated implementation across these levels is critical to sustaining a resilient workforce and ensuring high-quality, long-term service delivery.