Burnout and intent-to-leave in physical therapists: a preliminary analysis of factors under organizational control

ABSTRACT

Burnout in physical therapists (PTs) has come to the forefront of the professional media as the professional practice landscape continues to evolve. Studies on burnout of PTs to date have measured dimensions of burnout such as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment. This study specifically explored the relationship of burnout and intent-to-leave to PTs perceptions of ethical workplace environment and PT perceptions of other organizationally driven practice factors such as productivity, billing/coding policies, and provision of pro-bono services.

Methods

Twelve hundred PTs were sent a survey packet including the 20-item Ethics Environment Questionnaire (EEQ) and additional items inquiring about contemporary practice factors. Returned packets (n = 340) were analyzed utilizing correlational and regression analyses to determine relationships between ethical environment, burnout, intent-to-leave, productivity standards, billing and coding requirements and ability to provide pro-bono services.

Results

There was a strong correlation between PTs’ view of organizational ethics and burnout (T_{b =} −0.55), and a moderate correlation between organizational ethics and intent-to-leave (T_b = −0.43). There was also a strong relationship between burnout/intent-to-leave and practice factors such as productivity standards, billing/coding policy, and organizational provision of pro-bono services (p ≤ 0.01). Finally, there was a moderate correlation between PTs’ view of organizational ethics and practice factors such as productivity standards (T_b = 0.46) and billing and coding policy (T_b = −0.45).

Conclusions

Contemporary practice factors such as productivity standards and billing/coding practices are related PT’s perception of ethical workplace environment and both are related to PT burnout and intent-to-leave. Factors identified in this study related to burnout are all under organizational control.

KEYWORDS:

• Burnout
• intent-to-leave
• physical therapists
• ethics
• ethics environment

Disclosure statement

The author reports no conflicts of interest.

Notes

¹ The Ethics Environment Questionnaire is fully copyrighted and registered and may not be used or published without the written permission of the author.