Psychological well-being and burnout amongst medical students in India: a report from a nationally accessible survey

Abstract

Background Medical students in India face multiple challenges and sources of stress during their training. No nationally representative survey has yet been undertaken. We undertook a cross-sectional national survey to assess substance use, psychological well-being, and burnout using CAGE, Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI), and the short General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The survey was open to all medical students in India. Descriptive statistics along with chi square tests and Spearman’s correlation were performed. Results Burnout was reported by 86% of respondents for disengagement and 80% for exhaustion. Seventy percent had a score of more than 2 on the GHQ-12, indicating caseness. Conclusions This study reveals that medical students are going through exceptional stress when compared to their age-matched peers. More nationally representative studies must be conducted on a large scale to quantify the problem and to help design new interventions.

Prevalence of burnout in medical students in Guatemala: Before and during Covid-19 pandemic comparison

“…In line with many previous and recent studies (Chumakov et al, 2021; Philip et al, 2021), our findings confirm two observations. Firstly that rates of burnout are high among medical students and secondly that these have gone up as a result of the pandemic.…”

“…Recent studies have shown that rates of burnout in medical students vary from 52% to 95% in various countries (Pablo & Suberviola, 1998). Reports from Brazil (Castaldelli-Maia et al, 2019), Canada (Wilkes et al, 2019, 2021), England (Farrell, Kadhum et al, 2019), India (Philip et al, 2021), Indonesia (Kloping et al, 2021), Iran (Ashrafi et al, 2021), Italy (Volpe et al, 2019), Jordan (Masri et al, 2019), Morocco (Lemtiri Chelieh et al, 2019), New Zealand (Farrell, Moir et al, 2019), Nepal (Kafle et al, 2021), Nigeria (Esan et al, 2019), Paraguay (Torales et al, 2019), Portugal (Almeida et al, 2019).…”

A systematic review and meta-analysis of substance use among medical students in India

“…While the majority of the studies were based in a single-center, some of the studies had participants from multiple medical colleges. [ 23 24 ] While many of the studies used their self-designed questionnaires, some of the studies used previously validated questionnaires like Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, Global Health Professional Students Survey (GHPSS), Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), and Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH).…”

“…[ 23 ] and Philip et al . [ 24 ] could be considered truly pan-national recruiting students from all parts of the country. Most commonly, the assessment was done using a self-developed questionnaires to assess the use of substances.…”

Burnout among doctors working at a tertiary care hospital during pandemic of COVID-19 in Kashmir Valley, India

“…Philip S et al and Sanil M in their studies conducted in India also reported that more than 3/4 th of doctor's experience symptoms suggestive of burnout. 26,27 These figures are much higher than that found in studies prior to the COVID-19 pandemic which suggests that the proportion of doctors with burnout has increased in recent years. 28,29 Burnout is usually an outcome of interaction between personal and systemic factors.…”