ASSESSMENT OF THE BURNOUT LEVEL OF INTERNAL MEDICINE ASSISTANTS AND AFFECTING FACTORS

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of burnout syndrome among internal medicine resident physicians and the affecting factors.

Method: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with internal medicine assistants at Sivas Cumhuriyet University faculty of medicine between 1 and 31 May 2024. The sociodemographic data form and the Maslach Burnout Scale (MBS) were administered to the participants online using the Google Forms application.

Results: The study was completed with 32 (53%) assistant physicians. The mean age was 30,7 ± 3,8 years. Women (65,6%), those who are married (68,8%), those who do not have children (56,3%), those whose professional service period is between 1-5 years (68,8%), those who choose their profession voluntarily (93,8%), those who occasionally think of quitting their current job (56,3%), those who do not want to be a physician when they choose a profession again (59,4%), those who are not satisfied with the salary they receive (68,8%), those who think that the number of shifts is too high (% 56,3), those who found the workload heavy (62,5%), those who found the compulsory service obligation negative (71,9%), those who took less than three weeks of leave in the last year (53,1%), those who found the doctor as the reason for not taking leave. Those who declared their deficiency were in the majority (59,4%). 96,9% of assistant physicians reported that the professional reputation of medicine has deteriorated in the last 10 years, all of them found the medical profession stressful, and 28,1% reported that they had been subjected to violence in the last year. Most of them had high levels of emotional exhaustion (DT) (84,4%), depersonalization (DE) (90,6%) and personal accomplishment (KB) (43,8%). Those whose professional service period was 1-3 years had higher DY scores (p=0,036) and those who were dissatisfied with their wages had higher DT scores (p=0,018).

Conclusion: The burnout level of internal medicine resident physicians was found to be high. It is thought that improving work-related conditions, especially improving wages, can help reduce burnout.