Objectives

To determine the prevalence of burnout among the midwifery workforce and the association between fixed personal and practice characteristics and modifiable organizational factors, specifically practice environment, to burnout among midwives in the United States.

Data source

Primary data collection was conducted via online survey of the full national roster of certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives over three weeks in April 2017.

Study design

The study was a cross-sectional observational survey consisting of 95 items about personal and practice characteristics, respondents’ practice environments, and professional burnout.

Data collection methods

The inclusion criteria was actively practicing midwifery in the US. Data were analyzed with bivariate analyses to determine the association between personal and practice characteristics and burnout. A hierarchal multilinear regression evaluated to the inter-relationship between personal and practice characteristics, practice environment, and burnout.

Principal findings

Of the almost one third (30.9%) of certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives who responded to the survey, 40.6% met criteria for burnout. Weak negative correlations existed between burnout and indicators of career longevity: age (r(2256)=-0.09, p<0.01), years as a midwife (r(2267)=-0.07, p=0.01), and years with employer (r(2271)=-0.05, p=0.02). There were significant relationships between burnout score and patient workload indicators: patients per day in out-patient setting [F(5,2292)=13.995, p<0.01], birth volume [F(3,1864)=8.35, p<0.01], and patient acuity [F(2,2295)=20.21, p<0.01]. When the practice environment was entered into the model with personal and practice characteristics, the explained variance increased from 6.4% to 26.5% (F(20,1478)=27.98, p<0.01).

Conclusions

Our findings suggested that a key driver of burnout among US midwives was practice environment, specifically practice leadership and participation and support for the midwifery model of care. Structural and personal characteristics contributed less to burnout score than the practice environment, implying that prevention of burnout may be achieved through organizational support and does not require structural changes to the provision of perinatal health.