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Background: Heathcare professionals (HCPs) in the field of oncology face challenging clinical situations, difficult conversations, and death. This can seriously affect their physical and psychological health. Methods: One hundred and eighty doctors and nurses participated in this descriptive study. The primary objective was to determine the proportion of burnout in HCPs in a tertiary care cancer hospital. The secondary objectives included assessment of psychological morbidity, correlation of burnout with demographic factors and years of experience, and resilience and its correlation with burnout. Data were collected using Maslach Burnout Inventory, General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), and a Resilience scale (Dr. Vijaya Lakshmi and Dr. Shruti Narain). Descriptive statistics correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Results: One hundred and twenty-six (70%) respondents were young adults. Thirty-two (17.78%) respondents had a high Emotional Exhaustion (EE) score. A high Depersonalization score (DP) was seen in 24 (13.33%) and a low sense of Personal Accomplishment (PA) was perceived by 22 (12.22%). More nurses (55, 52.4%) had high resilience scores compared with doctors (21, 28%). Doctors (21, 28%) experienced more psychological morbidity than nurses (15, 14%). Among the domains of GHQ-28, high scores were observed in Somatic, Anxiety/Insomnia, and Social Dysfunction (mean 4.44 ± 3.92, 4.61 ± 3.85, and 4.54 ± 3.16, respectively) and low scores in the severe depression domain (mean 2.48/±3.29). Conclusion: Fifteen to eighteen percent of HCPs scored high levels of EE, DP, and low PA. Burnout was more common in doctors who had worked in the cancer center for longer. However, the converse was true for nurses. HCPs with high resilience scores had less burnout. Age and resilience protect from burnout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To assess the needs of informal caregivers of terminally ill cancer patients., Materials and Methods: Fifty four informal caregivers of patients registered in our palliative care service were interviewed 3-6 months after the death of the patient with the help of a semistructured questionnaire covering the physical, medical, psychological, social, and information domains., Results: Most of the caregivers were middle aged and had no prior experience of care giving. The caregivers were satisfied by the information and medical support provided to them by their treatment team. Most had an "emergency plan". Caregivers had unmet needs including homecare, psychological support, and financial help., Conclusions: informal caregivers provide most of the nursing and psychological support to the patient. However, palliative care services need to recognize that the caregiver too may need psychological and technical support.