CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 1,275Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnoutDiversity and Career in MedicineOccupational Health and Burnout

Burnout and Career Satisfaction Among American Surgeons

Shanafelt, Tait D., Balch, Charles M., Bechamps, Gerald J., Russell, Thomas, Dyrbye, Lotte, Satele, Daniel, Collicott, Paul, Novotny, Paul J. +2 more·2009·Annals of Surgery
DOI 10.1097/sla.0b013e3181ac4dfd
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of burnout among American surgeons and evaluate personal and professional characteristics associated with surgeon burnout. BACKGROUND: : Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization that leads to decreased effectiveness at work. A limited amount of information exists about the relationship between specific demographic and practice characteristics with burnout among American surgeons. METHODS: Members of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) were sent an anonymous, cross-sectional survey in June 2008. The survey evaluated demographic variables, practice characteristics, career satisfaction, burnout, and quality of life (QOL). Burnout and QOL were measured using validated instruments. RESULTS: Of the approximately 24,922 surgeons sampled, 7905 (32%) returned surveys. Responders had been in practice 18 years, worked 60 hours per week, and were on call 2 nights/wk (median values). Overall, 40% of responding surgeons were burned out, 30% screened positive for symptoms of depression, and 28% had a mental QOL score >1/2 standard deviation below the population norm. Factors independently associated with burnout included younger age, having children, area of specialization, number of nights on call per week, hours worked per week, and having compensation determined entirely based on billing. Only 36% of surgeons felt their work schedule left enough time for personal/family life and only 51% would recommend their children pursue a career as a physician/surgeon. CONCLUSION: Burnout is common among American surgeons and is the single greatest predictor of surgeons' satisfaction with career and specialty choice. Additional research is needed to identify individual, organizational, and societal interventions that preserve and promote the mental health of American surgeons.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1097/sla.0b013e3181ac4dfd

Cites

75 of 75 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Burnout has negative impacts on job satisfaction, the health of the residents, and the delivery of clinical services to patients.

    “Burnout contributes to poor job satisfaction [14] and a negative impact on their mental and physical health [15,16].”

    From Prevalence of Burnout in Medical and Surgical Residents: A Meta-Analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [16]

  • For each increase of one point in the depersonalization score (based on the MBI) there is an 11% increase in the likelihood of reporting a medical error.

    “For each increase of one point in the depersonalization score (based on the MBI) there is an 11% increase in the likelihood of reporting a medical error.[5]”

    From Burnout syndrome among medical residents: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2018) · cites this paper as [5]

  • For a one-point increase in the emotional exhaustion score there is a 5% increase in the likelihood of reporting an error.

    “On the other hand, for a one-point increase in the emotional exhaustion score there is a 5% increase in the likelihood of reporting an error.”

    From Burnout syndrome among medical residents: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2018) · cites this paper as [5]

  • Mindfulness-based interventions can lower stress and burnout in healthcare professionals.

    “There is a growing body of research evidence which has suggested that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can help decrease stress and burnout experienced amongst HCPs, increase job satisfaction levels and improve patient outcomes (Escuriex and Labbe 2011; Irving et al. 2009; Shanafelt et al. 2009).”

    From The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on the Psychological Functioning of Healthcare Professionals: a Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Shanafelt et al. 2009

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Shanafelt, T. D., Balch, C. M., Bechamps, G. J., Russell, T., Dyrbye, L., Satele, D., Collicott, P., Novotny, P. J., Sloan, J., & Freischlag, J. A.
Affiliations
  • Mayo Clinic (US)
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Shanafelt, Tait D.
  • Satele, Daniel
  • Novotny, Paul J.
  • Sloan, Jeff
ORCID
Venue
Annals of Surgery
Publisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Published
2009-09
Volume
250
Issue
3
Pages
463-471
ISSN
0003-4932 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1097/sla.0b013e3181ac4dfd
OpenAlex
W2044447001
Cited by
1,275
References
75
Citations by year
2026: 49 · 2025: 66 · 2024: 90 · 2023: 93 · 2022: 114 · 2021: 126 · 2020: 189 · 2019: 126 · 2018: 77 · 2017: 67 · 2016: 56 · 2015: 43 · 2014: 50 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 38
FWCI
62.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Annals of Surgery (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Diversity and Career in Medicine
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Burnout
Keywords
burnout, surgeons, career satisfaction, quality of life, emotional exhaustion, depression, on-call hours, working hours, physician remuneration, family life, physician mental health, specialty choice
MeSH terms
Adult, Burnout, Professional, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Female, Humans, Job Satisfaction, Male, Middle Aged, Practice Patterns, Physicians', Physicians, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, General Surgery, United States, Incidence, Chi-Square Distribution, Workload

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review