Resident Physician Burnout: Creating an Institutional System to Detect, Identify, and Mitigate Symptoms. (October 2015) - Connolly, AnnaMarie
Abstract : OBJECTIVE: To implement an institutional process to assess current level of resident physician burnout, and to identify and compare resident and program director (PD) perceptions of contributors to and potential interventions for burnout. METHODS: Residents and PDs at the University of North Carolina were asked to complete voluntary, institutional review board–approved electronic surveys from May to June, 2014 querying current symptoms and knowledge of burnout and depression and contributing factors and potential interventions to address burnout. The resident survey included the validated Maslach Burnout Inventory. Surveys were administered using Qualtrics software and analyzed using SAS software. RESULTS: Surveys were completed by 308 residents and 12 PDs. Resident respondents represented 11 core specialties, including obstetrics and gynecology. Burnout rates were high at 70%. There were significant differences between surgical and nonsurgical specialties regarding burnout (86% compared with 64%, P <.01). Residents currently on medication for treatment of depression or anxiety or both were more likely to report burnout (88% compared with 12%, P =.002). PDs grossly underestimated resident burnout. Residents and PDs agreed on contributors to burnout (conflicting responsibilities, lack of time for self-care, feeling under-appreciated, and time spent on electronic records). Similar concordance was seen for potential interventions although residents rated "more vacation time" more helpful than did PDs ( P =.0001). CONCLUSION: An institutional process was implemented to assess resident burnout and identify contributors to and potential interventions for burnout. Future directions of this work include implementation of resident- and PD-identified interventions and assessing the effect of such programming on reported burnout rates.