The prevalence of burnout in Iranian residents: a crosss-ectional study

Burnout is a feeling of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low sense of personal accomplishment that frequently occurs in people-related professionals such as healthcare personnel. The present cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate burnout in one of the tertiary hospitals of Tehran University of medical sciences across different medical specialties. Methods: Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was administered personally to 204 residents along with a demographic scale including participants’ age, gender, marital status, the level of residency, the field of residency. We categorized all specialties into 3 subgroups of surgery, internal medicine and paraclinical. Results: Mean age of participants (n = 204) was 31.1 ± 4.6, among them 127 (62.3%) participants were female. The results showed that totally, 188 residents (92.2%) were burnt-out. For emotional exhaustion, 173 (84.8%) residents had a moderate or high score, for depersonalization 197 (96.6%) residents, and for low personal accomplishment 182 (89.2%). There was no significant difference of emotional exhaustion score (t = 0.07, p = 0.60) and personal accomplishment (t=-0.59, p = 0.15) between two genders; however, depersonalization was significantly more prevalent in male residents (females: 21.9 ± 5.5, males: 20.6 ± 7.1; t = 1.47, p = 0.04). Regarding marital status, residency year and different specialties, no significant differences between male and female participants were found. Conclusion: In this study, burnout was very frequent in residents of all groups with regard to their genders, residency years, marital status, and specialties. Given the very high level of burnout in our residents, it is essential to conduct further studies to find the possible causes of burnout and to look for ways to alleviate the situation.