Effect of duty hour standards on burnout among orthopaedic surgery residents

Abstract

We surveyed orthopaedic surgery residents and faculty from two university training programs to quantify quality of life measures including burnout, general health, and relationship issues. Residents exhibited high levels of burnout and emotional exhaustion but only average levels of personal achievement, while faculty showed lower levels of burnout and emotional exhaustion with above average scores for personal achievement. Resident burnout was positively correlated with number of hours worked while faculty hours worked was inversely related to burnout. The survey was readministered two years after implementing the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education guidelines on residency duty hours. At this time resident scores for personal accomplishment had improved, while scores for emotional exhaustion showed a strong trend towards decreasing, and depersonalization scores also showed a possible trend towards decreasing. Resident duty hour limitation was associated with improvement in objective measures of burnout.