Burnout syndrome among psychiatric trainees in 22 countries: Risk increased by long working hours, lack of supervision, and psychiatry not being first career choice

Abstract

BackgroundPostgraduate medical trainees experience high rates of burnout, but evidence regarding psychiatric trainees is missing. We aim to determine burnout rates among psychiatric trainees, and identify individual, educational and work-related factors associated with severe burnout. MethodsIn an online survey psychiatric trainees from 22 countries were asked to complete the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-GS) and provide information on individual, educational and work-related parameters. Linear mixed models were used to predict the MBI-GS scores, and a generalized linear mixed model to predict severe burnout. ResultsThis is the largest study on burnout and training conditions among psychiatric trainees to date. Complete data were obtained from 1980 out of 7625 approached trainees (26%; range 17.8 -65.6%). Participants were 31.9 (SD 5.3) years old with 2.8 (SD 1.9) years of training. Severe burnout was found in 726 (36.7%) trainees. The risk was higher for trainees who were younger (p<0.001), without children (p=0.010), and had not opted for psychiatry as a first career choice (p=0.043). After adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, years in training and country differences in burnout, severe burnout remained associated with long working hours (p<0.001), lack of supervision (p<0.001), and not having regular time to rest (p=0.001). Main findings were replicated in a sensitivity analysis with countries with response rate above 50%. Conclusions 4Besides previously described risk factors such as working hours and younger age, this is the first evidence of negative influence of lack of supervision and not opting for psychiatry as a first career choice on trainees' burnout.

Barriers and facilitators to conducting research by early career psychiatrists: a literature review

“…One way to foster early research involvement is to gain the interest of medical students prior to them graduating from In Europe, trainee-led organisations, such as the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT) (Schulze, Treichel, 2002) and the European Psychiatric Association -Early Career Psychiatrists Committee (EPA -ECPC) (Hanon et al, 2015), have been successful in promoting research among junior psychiatrists in recent years, and formed dedicated task forces (Kuzman et al, 2009). Several European-wide early-career psychiatrist-driven studies have been carried out completely independently leading to high-quality publications, where all the co-authors were junior researchers (Koelkebeck et al, 2015, Kuzman et al, 2017, Jovanovic et al, 2016, Pinto da Costa et al, 2017.…”

Factores asociados con el síndrome de Burnout en médicos y enfermeras, Perú 2014.

“…La mayor cantidad de horas de trabajo a la semana fue un factor asociado a padecer SB en la población analizada. Otras investigaciones han sugerido dicha asociación previamente; por ejemplo, un estudio multicéntrico en diversos países de Europa realizado en médicos psiquiatras encontró que trabajar más de 48 horas por semana fue un factor asociado a padecer de SB severo 22 . También, en médicos residentes de Pakistán se identificó que los profesionales cuya jornada laboral duraba mayor cantidad de horas padecían más SB 23 .…”

Serum S100B as a Surrogate Biomarker in the Diagnoses of Burnout and Depression in Emergency Medicine Residents

“…Patients with either problem tend to view life as meaningless and feel themselves exhausted and desparate. However, alienation from work is a characteristic of burnout syndrome that is different from depression, in which negative thoughts and feelings are more extensive and not limited to the work environment . Researchers have long been trying to find biologic surrogate markers to detect major depression.…”

“…Burnout syndrome is defined as long‐term work stress resulting from the interaction between constant emotional pressure associated with intense face to face involvement for long periods of time and personal characteristics . Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of reduced personal accomplishment characterize burnout syndrome.…”