BURNOUT AND MENTAL HEALTH AMONG HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS: ORGANIZATIONAL DETERMINANTS AND THE PROTECTION OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

Abstract

Burnout among healthcare professionals is a complex phenomenon associated with organizational and psychosocial conditions at work, with repercussions that extend beyond the individual level to affect the quality of care, patient safety, and the effectiveness of the protection of fundamental rights. This article aims to analyze the organizational determinants related to burnout among healthcare professionals and their implications for the protection of workers’ mental health from a legal-organizational perspective. It is an integrative literature review, guided by the PRISMA 2020 protocol, whose analytical corpus consisted of studies selected according to previously established eligibility criteria. The analysis integrated frameworks from Public Health, Occupational Health, Organizational Psychology, and Constitutional Law, considering structural, organizational, psychosocial, and individual factors related to the onset of illness. The results show that burnout is primarily associated with an imbalance between work demands and institutional resources, work overload, low autonomy, insufficient organizational support, institutional injustice, and precarious working conditions. It was also found that illness has repercussions on the quality of care, patient safety, absenteeism, staff turnover, and the sustainability of health services. From a legal and constitutional perspective, the findings indicate that protecting the mental health of healthcare professionals is an integral part of the duty to realize the fundamental right to health, human dignity, and protection against occupational hazards. It is concluded that addressing burnout requires permanent policies and multilevel interventions capable of integrating prevention, mental health promotion, the reorganization of working conditions, and the enforcement of fundamental rights.