Cited by 1,904Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnoutOccupational Health and BurnoutStress and Burnout Research

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 232 of the 232 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Prevalence of Burnout Among Physicians: A Systematic Review

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Abstract

Importance: Burnout is a self-reported job-related syndrome increasingly recognized as a critical factor affecting physicians and their patients. An accurate estimate of burnout prevalence among physicians would have important health policy implications, but the overall prevalence is unknown. Objective: To characterize the methods used to assess burnout and provide an estimate of the prevalence of physician burnout. Data Sources and Study Selection: Systematic search of EMBASE, ERIC, MEDLINE/PubMed, psycARTICLES, and psycINFO for studies on the prevalence of burnout in practicing physicians (ie, excluding physicians in training) published before June 1, 2018. Data Extraction and Synthesis: Burnout prevalence and study characteristics were extracted independently by 3 investigators. Although meta-analytic pooling was planned, variation in study designs and burnout ascertainment methods, as well as statistical heterogeneity, made quantitative pooling inappropriate. Therefore, studies were summarized descriptively and assessed qualitatively. Main Outcomes and Measures: Point or period prevalence of burnout assessed by questionnaire. Results: Burnout prevalence data were extracted from 182 studies involving 109 628 individuals in 45 countries published between 1991 and 2018. In all, 85.7% (156/182) of studies used a version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to assess burnout. Studies variably reported prevalence estimates of overall burnout or burnout subcomponents: 67.0% (122/182) on overall burnout, 72.0% (131/182) on emotional exhaustion, 68.1% (124/182) on depersonalization, and 63.2% (115/182) on low personal accomplishment. Studies used at least 142 unique definitions for meeting overall burnout or burnout subscale criteria, indicating substantial disagreement in the literature on what constituted burnout. Studies variably defined burnout based on predefined cutoff scores or sample quantiles and used markedly different cutoff definitions. Among studies using instruments based on the MBI, there were at least 47 distinct definitions of overall burnout prevalence and 29, 26, and 26 definitions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment prevalence, respectively. Overall burnout prevalence ranged from 0% to 80.5%. Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment prevalence ranged from 0% to 86.2%, 0% to 89.9%, and 0% to 87.1%, respectively. Because of inconsistencies in definitions of and assessment methods for burnout across studies, associations between burnout and sex, age, geography, time, specialty, and depressive symptoms could not be reliably determined. Conclusions and Relevance: In this systematic review, there was substantial variability in prevalence estimates of burnout among practicing physicians and marked variation in burnout definitions, assessment methods, and study quality. These findings preclude definitive conclusions about the prevalence of burnout and highlight the importance of developing a consensus definition of burnout and of standardizing measurement tools to assess the effects of chronic occupational stress on physicians.

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Research works printed but not linked: 8

  1. Das, 2016, Degree of burnout among emergency healthcare workers and factors influencing level of burnout: a pilot study., Delhi Psychiatry J, 19, 36
  2. Hagau, 2012, Prevalence of burnout in Romanian anaesthesia and intensive care physicians and associated factors., J Rom Anest Ter Intensiva, 19, 117
  3. Leung, 2015, Stress, satisfaction and burnout amongst Australian and New Zealand radiation oncologists., J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol, 59, 115, 10.1111/jmiro.2015.59.issue-1 · DOI
  4. Margaryan, 2010, Burnout in primary health care physicians: a pilot study., New Armen Med J, 4, 76
  5. Shimotsu, 2015, Validation of a brief clinician survey to reduce clinician burnout. In: Abstracts from the 38th Annual Meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine., J Gen Intern Med, 30, S79
  6. Maslach, 2016, Maslach Burnout Inventory Manual
  7. Gil-Monte, 2011, CESQT: Cuestionario Para La Evaluación Del Síndrome de Quemarse Por El Trabajo: Manual
  8. Golembiewski, 1984, Organizational Policy and Development, 71

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Metadata

Authors
Rotenstein, L. S., Torre, M., Ramos, M. A., Rosales, R. C., Guille, C., Sen, S., & Mata, D. A.
Affiliations
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
  • Yale University (US)
  • Medical University of South Carolina (US)
  • University of Michigan (US)
Corresponding author
Mata, Douglas A.
Venue
JAMA
Published
2018-09-18
Volume
320
Issue
11
Pages
1131
ISSN
  • 0002-9955 (ISSN-L)
  • 0098-7484
OpenAlex
W2890627641
Cited by
1,904
References
232
Citations by year
2026: 228 · 2025: 267 · 2024: 250 · 2023: 250 · 2022: 271 · 2021: 288 · 2020: 236 · 2019: 106 · 2018: 7
FWCI
28.95
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
public-domain
Locations
  • JAMA (publishedVersion, public-domain)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH101459)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Occupational Health and Burnout
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
Keywords
physician burnout, burnout prevalence, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, low personal accomplishment, Maslach Burnout Inventory, burnout definition, cut-off values, physician well-being, occupational stress in medicine
MeSH terms
Compassion Fatigue, Burnout, Professional, Depersonalization, Humans, Job Satisfaction, Physicians, Surveys and Questionnaires, Prevalence

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