Burnout among medical students of the University of Kerbala and its correlates

Abstract

Background Burnout is prevalent among medical students. Throughout their training, medical students face many psychosocial stresses that, if not managed, might cause burnout syndrome. Burnout could negatively impact students’ life and their academic performance. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of burnout among medical students at the College of Medicine, University of Kerbala, and assess factors associated with it. An analytic cross-sectional study. A sample of 424 students from all academic years from the College of Medicine, University of Kerbala, was approached. Data collection was conducted from June 11 to July 3, 2020, through a self-administered online questionnaire based on the Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Survey (MBI-SS). The MBI-SS included 15 questions with a 7-point rating ranging from 0 (never) to 6 (always). The tool measures three subscales: emotional exhaustion (5 questions), Cynicism (4 questions), and professional efficacy (6 questions). Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program version 24 was used for data analysis. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the association between burnout and students̓ variables, P value of a level < 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results The prevalence of burnout syndrome among medical students was 38.2%. About 85.6% of students had high emotional exhaustion, 77.8% had high cynicism, and 32.5% exhibited low professional efficacy. Female gender, regular use of legal substances, and family history of mental diseases were associated with significantly high rates of burnout. Conclusions Burnout is prevalent among medical students of the University of Kerbala with quite high levels of emotional exhaustion and cynicism and lower professional efficacy levels. Faculties of medicine need to consider burnout among their students and works to reduce unnecessary stresses by modifying and upgrading the educational and clinical environments.

Assessment of Burnout Status Among Medical Students of Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Survey

“…This result con rms the ndings of previous research like the one done by Dahlin and Joneberg and the study conducted at the university of Karbala. 23,26 In this study Higher percentage of the students were identi ed as burnout in comparison to students in second, third and nal year. There was a decrease in prevalence of burnout with increasing standards in medical school.…”

“…22 The study conducted at the University of Karbala among medical students in the year 2020 as well as research conducted in the Barretos School of Health Sciences all showed a lower prevalence of burnout when compared to the medical students of Nepal. 23,24 Similarly, the medical students from Universiti Sains Malaysia, showed less prevalence of burnout than the students of Nepal. 25 The signi cant difference in the prevalence of burnout between Nepalese and foreign medical students could be because of the difference in the education system, syllabus, academic load, ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, and other social or personal factors.…”

The relationship between the burnout syndrome and academic success of medical students: a cross-sectional study

“…In a study at the University of Belgrade, the use of sedatives was recorded in 2.6 % of medical students but was not associated with the burnout syndrome (45). In contrast, regular use of legal substances (including pain relief drugs, sedatives, cough drugs, steroids, antidepressants, caffeine) among medical students in Iraq was significantly related to high burnout rates (46). It is uncertain whether the use of sedatives directly causes students to burn out more, or students who are already underperforming turn to sedatives (or recreational drugs) to deal with high stress levels (47).…”

Is There a Burnout Epidemic among Medical Students? Results from a Systematic Review

“…Female students reported higher levels of emotional exhaustion (20.7% vs. 6.3%) and of depersonalization (17.8% vs. 10.7%), and lower levels of personal accomplishment (7.5% vs. 19.8%) [58]. The female gender was a significant predictor of burnout in most studies [27,28,42,49,50,62,66,67,70,73,77,78,82], with the exception of the studies by Cecil [38], Talih [56], Puranitee [64], and Qashqary [87].…”

“…In fact, students receiving recurrent mistreatment by faculty members or residents reported burnout rates of 57.4% and 49.1%, respectively [39]; higher levels of disengagement (27.8%) and exhaustion (30.6%) were found among lesbian-gay-bisexual medical students when compared with heterosexual colleagues [32]. Moreover, poor sleep and the use of tobacco, caffeine, alcohol, and illicit substances were also associated with burnout [38,56,58,59,69,71,72,75,80,82].…”