Organisational sources of burn-out and embitterment and illustrative quotes
| Subthemes | Illustrative quotes |
| Heavy workload | ‘Even when I get off work, I don’t really get off. I receive endless calls and requests… I keep having dreams about conducting investigations, every single day. I constantly think about work. When I go to bed, I put my cell phone next to me so I can pick it up right away.’ – FHW4, male ‘I came home around 3 to 4 AM, but I got another call at 7:30 AM. It was the hardest time for me.’ – FHW9, female ‘Ever since I started this work, I have had severe headaches because I do 24-hour shifts… I feel nervous all the time. I am constantly receiving phone calls, and maybe because of that, I started having heart palpitations lately.’ – FHW13, male ‘I need to keep holding my cell phone and waiting for a call every single day because I don’t know where I would be asked to go… My life, even during my vacation or bedtime, is basically chained to the unpredictability of work.’ – FHW3, male |
| Lack of office space and essential supplies | ‘The health center made us work in a cafeteria… During the busiest days, three of us laid sheets of newspapers on the floor and took a nap there because there was no place to rest.’ – FHW12, male ‘I once contacted a patient using my cell phone. The patient texted me complaining about the government and all, and at the end, the patient said that (s)he will disclose our phone calls and text messages to YouTube. It made my heart sink’ – FHW11, male ‘Sometimes we had to go to the field without protective equipment. Then we were classified as contacts. I am stressed by such lack of preparedness than the actual field circumstances.’ – FHW13, male |
| Inadequate organisational support | ‘I’ve even been summoned to testify as a witness. There’s nothing that protects us even in such circumstances. It’s sad, but there’s nothing we can do because that’s the reality of our institution.’ – FHW9, female ‘I’ve talked with our organization about [the legal issues I faced] …Then they told me to adjust classifications of contacts on my own. It’s ridiculous. I was so confused.’ – FHW10, male ‘I’ve never felt getting support from the organization. I’ve contacted the office many times about work phone and other issues, but my requests kept getting delayed and I finally got a phone recently… If the organization hired us and needed us, they should have done better by listening to our difficulties. They can’t avoid this criticism.’ – FHW11, male |