Burn out among the paediatric surgeons of Pakistan

Abstract

This study was to assess the prevalence of Burnout syndrome among physicians, medical students and other healthcare professionals as they are considered more prone to it. It has been reported to be as high as >85% among surgeons, due to the sensitive and exhaustive nature of their job. The objective was to determine the prevalence of burnout among Paediatric surgeons (PS) of Pakistan. For this cross-sectional study, all PS working in Pakistan were included. In order to assess burnout, Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was used. Burnout was found among 15% of the PS. In this group, it was also found that 17.5% of PS had high Emotional Exhaustion (EE), 12.5% had high Depersonalisation (DEP) and 30% had low Personal and Professional Achievement (PPA). Also 35% of PS were experiencing burnout in at least one domain. The significant protective factors we found in this group was having a non-doctor spouse for low EE (P=0.014), FCPS fellowship degree for low DEP (P=0.011), more than 2 post-graduation degrees for high PPA (P=0.008) and private practice for high PPA (P=0.020). We concluded that a large number of PS are facing burnout, and at the same time, a large proportion of them are at risk of moderate levels burnout from EE, DEP and PPA.

Keywords: Paediatric Surgeons; Maslach Burnout Inventory; Pakistan, Burnout among Paediatric Surgeons..