Physician-Specific Symptoms of Burnout Compared to a Non-Physicians Group

Abstract

Physician burnout is a systemic problem in health care due to its high prevalence and its negative impact on professional functioning and individual well-being. While unique aspects of the physician role contributing to the development burnout have been investigated recently, it is currently unclear whether burnout manifests differently in physicians compared to the non-physician working population. We conducted an individual symptom analysis of burnout symptoms comparing a large sample of physicians with a non-physician group. In this cross-sectional online study, burnout was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey. We matched physicians with non-physicians regarding their age, gender, educational level, occupational status, and total burnout level using a "nearest neighbour matching" procedure. We then conducted a series of between-groups comparisons. Data of 3846 (51.0% women) participants including 641 physicians and 3205 non-physicians were analysed. The most pronounced difference was that physicians were more satisfied with their work performance (medium effect size (r = 0.343). Our findings indicate minor yet significant differences in burnout phenomenology between physicians and non-physicians. This demonstrates unique aspects of physician burnout and implies that such differences should be considered in occupational research among physicians, particularly when developing burnout prevention programs for physicians.

Keywords: burnout; fatigue; online survey; physicians; work stress.

Figure 1

Mean burnout symptoms of physicians and non-physicians.