Burnout is one main factor that tends to reduce the performance quality among hospital staff, particularly among doctors had been shown to cause increased medical errors which can lead to decreased patient satisfaction and thus increases the chances of litigation. In personal life, there are increased chances of depression possibly leading to substance abuse and/or deterioration in interpersonal relationship. The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with high incidence of anxiety, stress, sleep problems, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in health-care workers. With successive waves of contagion that are continually challenging health care systems, more insidious mental health problems such as burnout have also emerged.

Our proposed study is a single-arm pre-post clinical trial to estimate the effect of yoga on burnout in healthcare professionals during COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible healthcare professionals working at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS, New Delhi), during the COVID-19 pandemic, will be recruited for the study. Total sample size n=82. Specifically designed yoga protocol will be used for the current study. Total 6 online yoga sessions (3 training session in week-1, and 3 follow-up sessions once in 10 days between week-2 to week-6) will be conducted. Participants will also be encouraged to practice yoga regularly till the end of follow-up period (6 weeks). We will also estimate the effect of yoga on stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in healthcare professionals.

Primary Outcome: Change in the average score of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) at 6 weeks

Secondary Outcome: (i) Change in the total score of Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21) at 6 weeks, (ii) Change in the total score of Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) at 6 weeks, and (iii) Change in the total score of PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) at 6 weeks.