Exploring Staff Turnover, Burnout and Resilience in Cytology Reference Laboratories: A Workforce Qualitative Study.

Chiou, Paul Z

OBJECTIVES The specific aims of the study are to investigate cytology laboratory staff turnover in the context of workplace stressors and burnout and to explore qualities associated with long career tenure, in order to facilitate the development of future workplace intervention programs. METHODS A basic interpretive qualitative study approach with semi-structured interviews was conducted and analyzed using a directed and conventional content analysis. Seven participants who had left large cytology reference laboratories were purposively sampled to interview about their experience of leaving the cytology reference laboratories. Conventional content analysis was used to inductively generate themes and deductive content analysis was conducted with categories from the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping or TMSC (ie: stress appraisal and coping style). RESULTS Three main themes were discerned from the interviews; concerns about the cytology workplace, reasons for choosing to leave and strategies for coping with stress. Demand for productivity was the most commonly cited concern among cytotechnologists, followed by work-life balance and musculoskeletal strain related to microscopic screening. The top reason given for people choosing to leave the commercial laboratories was the lack of work-life balance and the second was the lack of professional challenges and growth opportunities. Participants with longer job tenure who experienced a promotion described coping with job stress as more optimistic and problem focused. CONCLUSIONS Opportunities exist within large commercial laboratories around improving work environment to reduce workplace burnout and turnover. Our findings revealed that the most common stressors encountered at large commercial laboratories are productivity demands followed by work-related musculoskeletal strains associated with microscopic screening. Additionally, the top reasons given for people leaving large reference laboratories were the lack of work-life balance and the paucity of professional challenges and growth opportunities. Furthermore, the study found that cytotechnologists with longer professional tenure at commercial laboratories appeared to be more optimistic and problem-focused in their approaches with workplace-related stress and issues. Two-Liner Summary.