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Burnout in Surgical Residents of an Academic Hospital in Iran: A Cross-Sectional Study

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Abstract

Background

Academic burnout has adverse effects on residents' professional behavior as well as personal aspects of their lives and can ultimately affect their performance in the workplace. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of burnout among surgical residents in Imam Khomeini hospital and the relationship between factors such as sex, marital status, living place, specialized field, and anxiety with burnout.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study in 2021. A validated version of the Maslach burnout inventory for students (MBI-SS), the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and a questionnaire on contributing factors were used. Statistical analysis for the prevalence of burnout and comparison between scores of groups were performed.

Results

Of 130 surgical residents who answered the survey, 26% met the criteria for burnout. There was a significantly higher prevalence of burnout among PGY1 residents. Of these residents, 85.4% and 62.3% had high scores on emotional exhaustion and cynicism, respectively. We observed an association between different surgical disciplines and anxiety with burnout.

Conclusions

The prevalence of burnout among surgical residents was notable and higher than expected. There was a reliable association between anxiety and burnout. A longitudinal study on a group of students with a consideration of associated factors is suggested.

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Data availability

The datasets used and analyzed in the current study are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Funding

There is no financial support statement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Ashouri & Narjes Mohammadzadeh

  2. Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran

    Babak Mansourian, Roxana Safari, Kiana Tadbir Vajargah & Aysa Karimi

Authors
  1. Mohammad Ashouri
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  2. Babak Mansourian
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  3. Roxana Safari
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  4. Narjes Mohammadzadeh
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  5. Kiana Tadbir Vajargah
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  6. Aysa Karimi
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Contributions

MA and NM arranged the research idea. Data collection and analysis were conducted by BM. The manuscript was written by RS, KTV, and AK and reviewed and edited by MA, NM and KTV. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Narjes Mohammadzadeh.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All methods were carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki by the World Medical Association. The study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Ashouri, M., Mansourian, B., Safari, R. et al. Burnout in Surgical Residents of an Academic Hospital in Iran: A Cross-Sectional Study. World J Surg 47, 72–77 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-022-06787-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-022-06787-4

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