Single Item Measures of Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization Are Useful for Assessing Burnout in Medical Professionals

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Burnout has negative effects on work performance and patient care. The current standard for burnout assessment is the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), a well-validated instrument consisting of 22 items answered on a 7-point Likert scale. However, the length of the MBI can limit its utility in physician surveys. OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the performance of two questions relative to the full MBI for measuring burnout. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS:Cross-sectional data from 2,248 medical students, 333 internal medicine residents, 465 internal medicine faculty, and 7,905 practicing surgeons. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:The single questions with the highest factor loading on the emotional exhaustion (EE) ("I feel burned out from my work") and depersonalization (DP) ("I have become more callous toward people since I took this job") domains of burnout were evaluated in four large samples of medical students, internal medicine residents, internal medicine faculty, and practicing surgeons. Spearman correlations between the single EE question and the full EE domain score minus that question ranged from 0.76-0.83. Spearman correlations between the single DP question and the full DP domain score minus that question ranged from 0.61-0.72. Responses to the single item measures of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization stratified risk of high burnout in the relevant domain on the full MBI, with consistent patterns across the four sampled groups.CONCLUSIONS: Single item measures of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization provide meaningful information on burnout in medical professionals.

Work–Life Balance, Burnout, and Satisfaction of Early Career Pediatricians

“…Many previous investigations of burnout have used multi-item scales; however, some have suggested that single-item burnout assessments are a valid and reliable substitute for multiquestion surveys. 46,47 The item used in our study was adapted from this previous work 36 and pilot tested with young pediatricians. Third, although previous research has identified that early career physicians are most likely to have dissatisfaction with overall career choice and the highest frequency of work-home conflicts, our study is limited to early career pediatricians; therefore, the generalizability of the 7 by guest on May 12, 2018 http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/ Downloaded from findings to other specialties or career stages remains unclear.…”

“…To assess work-life balance, we asked pediatricians to rate agreement on the statement, "the balance between my personal and professional commitments is about right." 17 To assess burnout, we used a single item adapted from previous work, 36 which we also pilot tested with young pediatricians: "I am currently experiencing burnout in my work." To assess satisfaction, we asked pediatricians about their careers ("All things considered, I am satisfied with my career as a physician.")…”

Burnout and Distress Among Internal Medicine Program Directors: Results of A National Survey

“…These single items correlate strongly with the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization domains of burnout as measured by the full MBI. 31 The single items have also been shown to perform well as predictive factors relative to the full MBI. 32 We summarized descriptive results using frequency tables.…”

Association of Intrinsic Motivating Factors and Markers of Physician Well-Being: A National Physician Survey

“…Responses included none, a few, many, and most. We assessed burnout with a validated short form of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), using the following two questions on a 7-point Likert scale: 37 "I feel burned out from my work" (MBI emotional exhaustion) and "I have become more callous toward people since I took this job" (MBI depersonalization). Each item was recoded into a binary variable, no (never, a few times a year, once a month or less, a few times a month) versus yes (once a week, a few time a week, every day).…”