Grit protects medical students from burnout: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Background: Burnout is a serious issue plaguing the medical profession with potential negative consequences on patient care. Burnout symptoms are observed as early as medical school. Based on a Job Demands-Resources model, this study aims to assess associations between specific job resources measured at the beginning of the first year of medical school with burnout symptoms occurring later in the first year. Methods: The specific job resources of grit, tolerance for ambiguity, social support and gender were measured in Duke-NUS Medical School students at the start of Year 1. Students were then surveyed for burnout symptoms at approximately quarterly intervals throughout the year. Using high ratings of cynicism and exhaustion as the definition of burnout, we investigated the associations of the occurrence of burnout with student job resources using multivariable logistic regression analysis. Results: Out of 59 students, 19 (32.2%) indicated evidence of burnout at some point across the first year of medical school. Stepwise multivariable logistic regression analysis identified grit as having a significant protective effect against experiencing burnout (Odds Ratio, 0.84; 95%CI 0.74 to 0.96). Using grit as a single predictor of burnout, area under the ROC curve was 0.76 (95%CI: 0.62 to 0.89). Conclusions: Grit was identified as a protective factor against later burnout, suggesting that less gritty students are more susceptible to burnout. The results indicate that grit is a robust character trait which can prognosticate burnout in medical students. These students would potentially benefit from enhanced efforts to develop grit as a personal job resource.

Predictors of Occupational Burnout: A Systematic Review

“…Other strengths are the inclusion of only longitudinal studies but with a different duration of follow-up and with various occupations (e.g., healthcare employees, teachers, police officers, civil servants, etc.). Since cross-sectional studies do not consider temporality [84], and therefore are inconvenient for causal inference [85], we included only longitudinal studies. This ensured that the exposure preceded the occupational burnout onset for at least 87% of the included studies.…”

Burnout and grit in student physical therapists before and after terminal clinical education experiences: a prospective longitudinal study of a single class-year cohort

“…22 Relationships between grit and burnout were explored by Cortez et al in a longitudinal study of surgical physician residents, and surgeons with burnout had significantly lower grit scores than surgeons without burnout. 21 EE was found to peak in the first and third clinical years of residency while feelings of personal accomplishment peaked in the third clinical year. 21 The purpose of this study was to explore changes in levels of DPT student grit and burnout before and after their last consecutive (terminal) clinical education experiences.…”

“…21 EE was found to peak in the first and third clinical years of residency while feelings of personal accomplishment peaked in the third clinical year. 21 The purpose of this study was to explore changes in levels of DPT student grit and burnout before and after their last consecutive (terminal) clinical education experiences. Given reported differences in anxiety, stress, and exhaustion between male and female DPT students, we speculated that significant gender differences may also exist in the exhaustion and depersonalization burnout domains at both time intervals.…”

“…We also expected to find significant correlations between burnout and grit variables based on recent investigations. 20,21…”

Psychometric Properties of the Grit-S in Chinese Nurses

“…Studies have shown that grit is a powerful personality trait, which could predict the burnout of healthcare students ( Jumat et al, 2020 ). In the study of nursing staff, it was found that the grit of long-term goals was conducive to long-term work in nursing posts and was negatively correlated with burnout ( Seguin, 2019 ).…”