Quality of Professional Life and Empathy of Healthcare Workers in an Emergency Department of General Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction: The well-being of healthcare workers (HW) affects both their psycho-physical state, and the quality of care provided. In Emergency Department (ED), overcrowding, long work shifts and the criticality of patients can affect the professionals' quality of life and empathy. This empirical study aims to evaluate the HWs' professional quality life and empathy in an ED. Methods: With a cross-sectional design, we administered the "Jefferson Scale of Empathy" (JSE) and the "Perception of the quality of professional life" (ProQOL) to 70 HWs in a General Hospital ED and collected demographic and work variables of participants. We statistically analyzed data. Results: We collected responses from 16 doctors, 39 nurses, and 15 healthcare assistants, with a response rate of 70%. The JSE score (111.13 f 11.75) showed high empathy levels in all professions. The PROQOL burnout (23.73 f 5.53; chi-squared = 8.80; p = 0.012) and compassion fatigue (43.73 f 9.49; chi-squared = 10.48; p = 0.005) scores showed statistically significant differences between the three HWs. Doctors were the profession most affected by stress (23.12 f 6.47; chi-squared = 5.70; p = 0.058), burnout (27.62 f 5.97; chi-squared = 8.80; p = 0.012) and compassion fatigue (50.75 f 10.6; chi-squared = 10.48; p = 0.005) compared to other HWs. At multiple linear regressions, JSE score, as dependent variable, was associated with ProQOL burnout (Coeff: -0.88; p = 0.021) and stress (Coeff: 0.76; p = 0.048), whereas secondary traumatic stress score, as dependent variable, was positively associated with HWs' years of employment (Coeff: 0.38; p = 0.040). Discussion: Stress and burnout were higher among physicians than among other HWs, but empathy was high among all HWs, with no sex difference. These findings may inform future training programs and organizational policies aimed at improving the HWs professional quality of life, suggesting that support for HWs are essential for quality of care.