Exploring the relative importance of work-organizational burnout risk factors in Belgian residents

Abstract

Previous research has shown that residents are at risk for developing burnout. Most burnout measures focus on individual risk factors, although work-organizational-focused measures might be beneficial as well. This study analyzed the relative importance of positive and negative work-organizational stressors, according to residents themselves, with NVivo11. Eleven work-organizational themes were found with deductive reasoning and two themes, recognition and success experiences, were found inductively. Main positive stressors are professional development, receiving feedback, experiencing success, autonomy and social support. Main negative stressors are high workloads, role conflicts/ambiguity, long work hours, and a lack of feedback, a lack of social support, and a lack of professional development. Measures to improve residents’ well-being should not only focus on reducing workload and work hours. Our results suggest to allocate resources to improve supervisors’ skills, such as providing social support, feedback, and recognition. A better match between internship obligations and residents’ studies could also contribute positively to this purpose.

The Role of Burnout in the Association between Work-Related Factors and Perceived Errors in Clinical Practice among Spanish Residents

“…Therefore, it is necessary to consider the development of personal skills such as the search for autonomy and an own judgment, the intervention on possible emotional maladjustments, as well as the optimization of coping skills and mechanisms that might help in their adaption to the high-demanding environment during the residency period. Such interventions will contribute to the prevention of burnout syndrome among residents and will ensure an optimal patient care [ 29 , 50 , 51 ].…”

“…There is evidence that those residents who benefit from an optimal supervision and support across the residency period display a lower level of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization than those who do not receive adequate support from their supervisors [ 28 ]. In this respect, one of the goals of training as a resident is to gradually increase autonomy and control over decisions, although it has been demonstrated that autonomy and assumption of more and more responsibilities can be a major source of stress if these levels exceed their abilities for managing and coping with them [ 29 ]. In other words, another important area in which the supervisor must be involved is determining that the level of autonomy and responsibility acquired is appropriate for the residents’ skills and for the year of residency [ 29 ].…”

“…In this respect, one of the goals of training as a resident is to gradually increase autonomy and control over decisions, although it has been demonstrated that autonomy and assumption of more and more responsibilities can be a major source of stress if these levels exceed their abilities for managing and coping with them [ 29 ]. In other words, another important area in which the supervisor must be involved is determining that the level of autonomy and responsibility acquired is appropriate for the residents’ skills and for the year of residency [ 29 ]. Likewise, it has been demonstrated that a positive training environment has a direct influence on reducing levels of burnout, and it has also been observed that it is indirectly related with better teamwork, collaboration among peers and better quality of provided care to patients [ 16 ].…”

Association between Burnout Syndrome and medical training by specialty in first-year residents

“…A non-probabilistic study by consecutive inclusion was conducted, calculating the sample size to estimate the detection of BOS in our population. The sample size was calculated to be 54, using the CDC Epi Info software, based on the study by Willems et al (2018).…”

“…Although there are studies of BOS in medical residents, incidence rates vary greatly from 18% to 82% in some studies (Willems, Monten, & Portzky, 2018). Other studies report verbal, psychological and physical abuse, and harassment during residency, generally from hierarchical superiors, affecting up to 90% of the doctors surveyed (Acosta-Fernández, Aguilera-Velasco, & Pozos-Radillo, 2017).…”