Burnout, Caregiver, Stress
Conditions
Keywords
Screen time
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to determine the effect that uninstalling work email applications from mobile devices during leisure time has on health care worker stress levels.
Detailed description
Burnout is more common in physicians than in the general population. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has increased burnout and stress levels among health care workers, leading to a peak of 34% of health care workers experiencing burnout symptoms. But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of burnout symptoms among health care workers was trending upwards. In fact, most health care workers experience burnout to some degree. Managing email inboxes and working with electronic health records (EHR) can increase screen time levels for health care workers who use them. High amounts of screen time have been linked to depression and stress in teenagers and adults. EHR digital work is a noted burden on physicians, and inbox management has been linked to physician stress and burnout. A study that measured physician stress during electronic health record inbox work found that accessing and responding to EHR inbox outside of work hours increased stress levels in physicians. The effect of an intervention that lowers screen time usage in health care workers during leisure time has not been measured. Determining this effect can influence new protocols on inbox and work email management during leisure time for health care workers. This can benefit organizations by improving employee performance, employees by reducing stress and burnout levels, and patients by providing more refreshed patient care. This study aims to determine the effect that uninstalling email from mobile devices during leisure time has on health care worker stress levels.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALReduce screen time
The intervention is information provided via email on how to set up an automated response to emails received during their weekend off, reduce screen time for duration of leisure time, and uninstall work applications from their mobile device.
Sponsors
University of Nebraska
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
19 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* 1\) be an active health care worker * 2\) be ≥ 19 years old * 3\) routinely use a smartphone * 4\) have a work email application (e.g., Outlook) installed on their smartphone.
Exclusion criteria
* None
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change from baseline modified Perceived Stress Scale-10 after leisure time | Change in scale measured at baseline and after leisure time (through study completion, an average of 1 week) | Individual scores on the Perceived Stress Scale can range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Screen time | At the end of leisure time (through study completion, an average of 1 week) | Screen time in hours |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed