In Sierra Leone, physicians face a high risk of burnout due to systemic challenges, with studies suggesting a gap in recognizing and addressing this condition. Thematic content analysis was carried out using both deductive and inductive techniques to generate codes and identify key themes. Physicians in Sierra Leone face multifaceted challenges that significantly impact both healthcare delivery and personal well-being.
Our findings reveal that overwhelming workload and stringent schedules contribute to burnout, directly compromising patient care quality. The emotional burden of caring for patients with economic constraints in accessing treatment further exacerbates physician stress.
Limited resources, such as insufficient medical supplies and personnel, foster a sense of helplessness among clinicians, leading to detachment and cynicism towards their ability to effect change. In the absence of formal institutional support, physicians often rely on peer support to manage burnout. Our findings suggest that implementing formal support structures, including counselling services and mentorship programs, is crucial.
Improving working conditions through better resource allocation and infrastructure development is essential. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability: The full dataset is not made publicly available in a repository due to ethical restrictions.
When applying for ethical approval, the authors did not specify that the data would be publicly available in a repository. As part of the written and verbal consent, the authors assured participants that all data would be confidential and that access to the recordings would be restricted to the research team. The authors specified that "some of their words" may be used to report the findings of the study included in the paper as non-identifiable quotes.
