0
Sign In  | Subscribe
5 March 2002, Vol 136, No. 5>
Summaries for Patients | 5 March 2002

Do Medical Residents Experience Burnout? FREE

[+] Article and Author Information

The summary below is from the full report titled “Burnout and Self-Reported Patient Care in an Internal Medicine Residency Program.” It is in the 5 March 2002 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine (volume 136, pages 358-367). The authors are TD Shanafelt, KA Bradley, JE Wipf, and AL Back.


Ann Intern Med. 2002;136(5):I29-. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-136-5-200203050-00003
Text Size: A A A

What is the problem and what is known about it so far?

Burnout is a loss of interest in one's work and a feeling of “just going through the motions.” Physicians who are burned out are cynical and exhausted emotionally; they also feel they are working hard but accomplishing little. Burnout can affect people in helping professions, and it is associated with decreased job performance, reduced job commitment, and low career satisfaction. Physicians are at high risk for burnout. Their work is stressful, and they may try to do too much. They constantly address other people's problems and may ignore their own needs. Most knowledge of physician burnout comes from studies of experienced practicing physicians. We know little about burnout in doctors who are training to become practicing physicians (medical residents).

Why did the researchers do this particular study?

To describe the frequency of burnout and its consequences in doctors during medical residency training.

Who was studied?

115 internal medicine residents from a U.S. university-based training program. Almost half the doctors were in their first year of residency training.

How was the study done?

The residents completed questionnaires that included standardized questions that asked about symptoms of burnout, stress, depression, fatigue, alcohol consumption, and patient care. The researchers then looked at whether residents were burned out and whether burned-out residents reported providing patient care that was suboptimal more often than residents who were not burned out.

What did the researchers find?

Three quarters of the residents were burned out, according to the definitions that the researchers used. Compared with non–burned-out residents, burned-out residents were more likely to say that they discharged patients early to make their work manageable, did not fully discuss treatment options or answer a patient's questions, or made medical errors. Neither depression nor alcohol use was associated with these patient care practices. More than half the burned-out residents were unhappy that they had decided to become a doctor; one quarter said that if they could start over, they were not sure whether they would choose to become a doctor again.

What were the limitations of the study?

The researchers studied residents at a single training program. These resident physicians may not be typical of residents in all training programs. The study is based on residents' self-report of patient care, and residents may report patient care practices inaccurately or inconsistently. The questionnaires were sent in February, a time of the year when resident morale is typically low.

What are the implications of the study?

Burnout is a common and serious problem among doctors during their training, and it is a different problem than depression or substance abuse. Burned out doctors in training were more likely to report practicing suboptimal patient care than those who were not burned out and also to report personal distress and career dissatisfaction.

Figures

Tables

References

Letters

NOTE:
Citing articles are presented as examples only. In non-demo SCM6 implementation, integration with CrossRef’s “Cited By” API will populate this tab (http://www.crossref.org/citedby.html).
Compression-Only CPR: Pushing the Science Forward
Cone
AAM 2010;304:1493-1495.
All you need to read in the other general jounals
BMJ 2010;341:c5893-c1494.

Comments

Submit a Comment
Submit a Comment

Summary for Patients

Clinical Slide Sets

Terms of Use

The In the Clinic® slide sets are owned and copyrighted by the American College of Physicians (ACP). All text, graphics, trademarks, and other intellectual property incorporated into the slide sets remain the sole and exclusive property of the ACP. The slide sets may be used only by the person who downloads or purchases them and only for the purpose of presenting them during not-for-profit educational activities. Users may incorporate the entire slide set or selected individual slides into their own teaching presentations but may not alter the content of the slides in any way or remove the ACP copyright notice. Users may make print copies for use as hand-outs for the audience the user is personally addressing but may not otherwise reproduce or distribute the slides by any means or media, including but not limited to sending them as e-mail attachments, posting them on Internet or Intranet sites, publishing them in meeting proceedings, or making them available for sale or distribution in any unauthorized form, without the express written permission of the ACP. Unauthorized use of the In the Clinic slide sets will constitute copyright infringement.

Toolkit

Buy This Article

to gain full access to the content and tools.

Want to Subscribe?

Learn more about subscription options

Register Now for a free account
Advertisement

Related Content

Customize your page view by dragging & repositioning the boxes below.

Topic Collections
PubMed Articles
Observations on burnout in family medicine and psychiatry residents.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry Issue date: 2008 Jan-Feb
Observations on burnout in family medicine and psychiatry residents.
Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry Issue date: 2008 Jan-Feb

Annals of Internal Medicine

Other Resources

Copyright © 2013 The American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.
Print ISSN: 0003-4819 | Online ISSN: 1539-3704

Buy This Article

to gain full access to the content and tools.

Want to Subscribe?

Learn more about subscription options

Register Now for a free account
Forgot your password?
Enter your username and email address. We'll send you a reminder to the email address on record.
(Required)
(Required)