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Assessing Burnout Among Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) Compared with APP Trainees

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Abstract

Background

This study explored the prevalence of burnout syndrome among advanced practice providers (APPs = physician assistants (PAs) and advanced practice nurses (APNs)) and physician assistant students in training to become APPs. While previous research has focused on understanding burnout in a myriad of health professions, burnout among APPs and APP trainees has been underexplored. As such, this work serves as a primer for establishing benchmark levels of burnout in these specific healthcare provider/trainee populations.

Methods

This study distributed a modified Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to a sample of 297 APPs and 1200 PA students. Mean differences in burnout scores were compared against a national reference sample of healthcare professionals using one sample t tests and linear regression explored relationships among demographics and burnout dimension scores.

Results

APPs (n = 124) and APP trainees (n = 230) who responded to the survey displayed average levels of burnout, though both populations expressed significantly lower personal accomplishment scores than the national reference sample. No significant differences were detected between APNs and practicing PAs (p = 0.761). Increased age was negatively associated with depersonalization scores suggesting that APP trainees and younger APPs are at higher risk of developing severe burnout and may need additional support in their training and early careers. Furthermore, the prevalence of burnout between APPs and APP trainees was found to be comparable, suggesting that burnout from training may persist into practice.

Conclusions

A small proportion of APPs and APP trainees may be at risk of developing severe burnout. Individuals in these “at risk” populations may need additional support during training and perhaps later on in practice.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Christopher Jackson MPAS, PA, for his early involvement in helping to initiate this project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physician Assistant Studies, College of Health Sciences, Rush University, Kellogg Building, Suite 1117, 1750 W. Congress Parkway, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    Jennifer M. Orozco

  2. Office of Advanced Practice, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Janet Furman

  3. College of Nursing, Rush University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Kathryn K. McAndrews & Megan M. Keenan

  4. Department of Physician Assistant Studies, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Christopher Roman & Jennifer Guthrie

  5. Department of Physician Assistant Studies, University of Saint Francis, Fort Wayne, IN, USA

    Courtney J. Lloyd

  6. Department of Cell and Molecular Medicine, Rush University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Adam B. Wilson

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  1. Jennifer M. Orozco
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jennifer M. Orozco.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

Rush University and Butler University Institutional Review Boards approved this study (ORA nos. 14121803 and 17021305).

Informed Consent

As per the study protocol, participants were informed as to the nature and intent of the study. By completing the survey, participants consented to take part in the study.

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Orozco, J.M., Furman, J., McAndrews, K.K. et al. Assessing Burnout Among Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) Compared with APP Trainees. Med.Sci.Educ. 29, 1023–1031 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-019-00799-x

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