Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Multidisciplinary Care Teams: Burnout, Moral Distress and Career Satisfaction

Through the multi-year System Capacity Initiative and in collaboration with hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) experts and key stakeholders, National Marrow Donor Program^®/Be The Match^® evaluated the impact of workforce and infrastructure challenges on the utilization of HCT. A key finding from the needs assessments (Majhail et al. BBMT, 2012; Denzen, et al. BBMT, 2013) was that the effectiveness of recruitment and retention efforts is limited by work-related distress (e.g., burnout, moral distress, and compassion fatigue) across the HCT workforce. Although a recent evaluation by Shanafelt et al. (JCO, 2014) identified a burnout rate of 44.7% in almost 3000 oncologists, there has been no comprehensive assessment of the prevalence and etiology of burnout within HCT to date. We hypothesize that the issues of burnout, moral distress and compassion fatigue are prevalent among HCT health professionals. Second, we hypothesize that lower level functioning in these areas, along with poor work-life balance, correlate with career dissatisfaction in HCT professionals. To test this, we will conduct a cross-sectional, web-based survey focused on five measurement domains and utilizing two validated scales: Maslach Burnout Inventory and Moral Distress Scale-Revised (Figure 1). Participants will be recruited from special interest groups within professional societies/associations representing five HCT disciplines: nurses, nurse practitioners/phyisician assistants, pharmacists, physicians and social workers. With a target sample size of 6,000, this will be the first comprehensive, prospective study of the HCT multidisciplinary care team. Results describing the prevalence of work-related distress and its association with career satisfaction, controlling for demographic and work-environment characteristics, will be presented and used to design future interventions.