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Objective: To determine burnout prevalence in Canadian radiology residency and identify contributing factors. Materials and Methods: A prospective 57-item survey, including the 22-item Maslach Burnout Inventory-Health Sciences Survey, was sent to all Canadian radiology residents, with a total resident population of 359. The association between emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and personal achievement (PA) scores with items in the survey was performed. Continuous data were evaluated using the Student t test for comparing the means between the 2 groups or the analysis of variance test for comparing the means between at least 3 groups. Spearman correlation coefficient was performed when evaluating ordinal categorical data. Results: Response rate is 40.1% (n = 144); 50.7% of residents demonstrate high EE, 48.6% demonstrate high DP, and 35.9% demonstrate low PA. Being unhappy with residency and with radiology as a career is associated with burnout ( P < .001). Age, sex, marital status, and children have no impact on burnout. More hours worked is associated with higher EE ( P = .025) and DP ( P = .004). In all, 47.2% residents experienced intimidation or harassment. Feeling unsupported by staff radiologists is associated with higher EE ( P < .001), higher DP ( P = .001), and lower PA ( P = .008). In all, 45.1% of residents have poor work–life balance, and those residents demonstrate higher EE ( P < .001), higher DP ( P = .006), and lower PA ( P = .01). In all, 25% of residents identify poor education-service balance in their residency, and those residents have higher EE ( P < .001), higher DP ( P = .042), and lower PA ( P = .005). Conclusion: This study demonstrates significant burnout in Canadian radiology residents with major contributory factors identified.

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.