Resident physician burnout: insights from a Canadian multispecialty survey

Abstract

BackgroundBurnout results from chronic exposure to stress: comprising emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalisation (DP) and a reduced sense of personal achievement (PA). Only a few studies have examined burnout in Canadian residents, and no multispecialty studies using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Health Sciences Survey (MBI-HSS) exist. The purpose of our study is to identify burnout prevalence, contributory factors and solutions.MethodsA prospective 62-item survey, including the 22-item MBI-HSS, was sent to all Alberta residents, with a resident population of 1745. The association between burnout, EE, DP and PA with items in the survey was performed. Continuous data were evaluated using Student’s t-test or analysis of variance. Ordinal data were evaluated using Spearman’s correlation coefficient and Mann-Whitney U test. Nominal data were evaluated using χ2 test.ResultsResponse rate was 41.1% (n=718), with burnout prevalence of 69.4%. 61.6% of residents demonstrated high EE, 47.8% high DP and 29.0% low PA. More hours worked, poor work–life balance, poor service-education balance, poor mental health support, experiencing intimidation/harassment and being unhappy with programme and with career choice were associated with higher burnout (p<0.001). 53.5% of residents experienced intimidation/harassment. Solutions to burnout included improved teaching, improved call/working hours, more wellness days and a change in medicine culture.ConclusionHigh prevalence of burnout in Canadian residents with contributory factors and solutions identified. We hope programmes across the world can use this information to improve the burden of burnout among residents.

Burnout Syndrome: an analysis of the mental health of medical residents in a teaching hospital

“…By analyzing the presence of EE in the DE scenario and vice versa, the result of our research demonstrates a direct relationship between the presence of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. This result is consistent with the study carried out in the city of Curitiba, state of Prana, Brazil, which interviewed 136 residents and found a high level of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, with a moderate level of personal accomplishment, as well as other national studies conducted in the cities of Porto Alegre and Uberlândia, as well as international studies carried out in Syria and Canada, who showed similar results 1,5,19,23,26 . Therefore, it is possible to conclude that ED and EE, in this research, occur simultaneously, thus indicating which individual is at high risk for the development of the disease, with PA being a determinant in the classification or not of each participant within the burnout syndrome, thus highlighting those who should be the object of interventions.…”

“…When observing the total number of respondents with criteria for burnout, which totaled 22 individuals, 59.09% were women, while 40.9% were men. Therefore, the scenario of a majority of women in the sample in medical teaching centers worldwide is repeated in other studies, with numbers ranging from 56.30% and 69.3% of women in Canada 12,26 and in Porto Alegre, with 58.3% of women, which shows a sociodemographic change of more than 60 years, with an increase in the number of female medical professionals, which was 23.47% 27 in the 1970s, to 45.6% of graduated professionals 28 in 2018, with an expectation of being the majority in the medical labor market by 2028 27 . However, although females seem as the absolute majority, males are still the most affected by burnout, as shown by these national and international studies 19,21,23 .…”

Impact of the intersection of anaesthesia and gender on burnout and mental health, illustrated by the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Similar findings are reported in the burnout literature with some studies reporting that women's experiences of burnout are linked with emotional exhaustion, whereas men's experiences are linked with depersonalisation [27, 28]. In some cases, higher rates of burnout in anaesthetists who are men appear to result from significantly higher levels of depersonalisation [29, 30]. Of additional interest, one study of Norwegian physicians found not only higher exhaustion levels in women and higher disengagement levels among men, but also gender differences in predictors of burnout with work–home conflicts predominating in women and workload the strongest predictor in men [7].…”

Impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on postgraduate medical education in a Singaporean academic medical institution

“…COVID-19 can cause significant psychological impact on residents [8]. Prior to the pandemic, resident burnout levels have already been reported to be high [9].…”