The prevalence of burnout in Iranian residents: a cross-sectional study

Background: Burnout is a constellation of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low sense of personal accomplishment that frequently occurs in people-related professionals such as healthcare personnel. In this cross-sectional study, we proposed 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 handed out personally to 204 residents. The demographic questionnaire included 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, and 127 (62.3%) subjects were female. 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%). Between two genders, there was no significant difference of emotional exhaustion score (t = 0.07, p = 0.60) and personal accomplishment (t = -0.59, p = 0.15); however, depersonalization was significantly more prevalent in male reseidents (females: 21.9 ± 5.5, males: 20.6 ± 7.1; t = 1.47, p = 0.04). Regarding marital status, residency year and different specialties, we found no significant difference between male and female subjects. Conclusion: In this study, burnout was very frequent in residents of all groups including different 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.