Nashville, Tenn. — Incidence of burnout and risk for burnout are high in physicians, particularly residents, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center report.
To evaluate the risk of burnout among medical personnel from one perioperative unit, investigators surveyed 145 healthcare professionals, 46 percent of whom were physicians or residents, 44 percent nurses or nurse anesthetists, and 10 percent other medical workers.
Researchers found that residents scored higher than other physicians on global burnout scores, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, HealthDay News reports.
Residents also had higher health and workload values than physicians. The survey also found that physicians’ scores were higher than those of the other healthcare professionals.
In a similar study conducted by researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, 117 academic anesthesiology chairmen were surveyed to determine burnout levels. Of the 93 usable responses, 26 respondents met criteria for high burnout and 29 for moderately high burnout. Researchers concluded that burnout risk increased with low job satisfaction and low support from a spouse or significant other.
Both surveys were reported in the January issue of Anesthesiology.
