Burnout in Medical Residents: Prevalence and Risk Factors

Abstract

Background: Burnout is a state of mental and physical exhaustion related to work. It is manifested in a variety of professions and is prevalent in contexts in which health professionals are required to interact directly with the public. Objectives: To estimate the burnout syndrome (BOS) prevalence and to identify its associated factors among medical residents. Methods: A descriptive and analytic study conducted during a period from 2012 until 2014, including 184 residents exerting at the two university hospitals of Sfax, Tunisia. Data collection was conducted using an anonymous self-questionnaire, including demographic items and working conditions items. Maslach Burn-out Inventory (MBI) was used to assess BOS. Results: The average age was 25.14 ± 1.47 years. The sex-ratio was 0.65. The majority (154 residents) was single. Over than half (58.2%) of medical residents endure a high emotional exhaustion, 62.5% a high depersonalisation and 12.5% a low personal accomplishment. About eighty percent (79.3%) of them were in burn out with 37% at intermediate and 11.3% at a severe degree. No statistical association was found between the personal characteristics and BOS. Whereas, several factors related to employment status were correlated with the presence of BOS such us: number of working hours > 30 h/week, a number of free weekends < 2/month and a number of days off ≤ 30 days/year. In addition, we found that psychotropic and alcohol consumption were significantly associated to BOS with respectively P = 0.050 and P = 0.002. Conclusion: Burnout is a worrying reality among young doctors. Individual as well as organizational interventions should be targeted to prevention. Disclosure of interest: The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.