[The frequency of burnout syndrome in physicians in Mostar University Hospital].

AIM

To determine the prevalence of burnout syndrome in clinical physicians in Mostar University Hospital.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

The study included 94 subjects who were familiar with the purpose of research and were classified into three specialty groups. The first consisted of doctors in the Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, the second group of doctors in the Department of Surgery and Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, while the third group (CL-specialization) were doctors of the Clinic of Dermatology and Venereal Diseases, Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Department of Ophthalmology. All subjects were handed anonymous questionnaire to assess burnout. The questionnaire consisted of 18 statements with numbers from 1 to 3, 1 meaning rarely, 2 often and 3 always The task was to circle an appropriate number depending on how the statement described them. Along with these statements the questionnaire contained information on the place of employment, years of work experience and gender.

RESULTS

In the studied sample of respondents most (n = 81, 86.2%) didn't have symptoms of burnout syndrome. As for the people who had these symptoms, they all belonged to the moderate intensity (chi2 test = 49.19, df = 1, P < 0.001), while none had severe symptoms of this syndrome. The intensity of the symptoms in the subjects was not significantly different between males and females (chi2 test = 0.85, df = 1, P = 0.355). Also, the intensity of symptoms in the subjects did not differ significantly depending on the number of working years (exact test, P = 0.888). After the formation of three groups from seven departments involved in the research of so far perceived intensity of stress, no significant differences in the intensity of the symptoms of burnout were found between them (exact test, P = 0.536). Regarding the individual items in the overall survey sample, in five items high intensity symptoms of burnout were most often circled. The most frequently reported high intensity of the symptoms was the sense of inability to change something at work (chi2 test = 78.04, df = 14, P < 0.001) CONCLUSION: The majority of respondents did not have symptoms of burnout syndrome, and those who had them were in the moderate stage of burnout. No statistically significant differences in the incidence of burnout syndrome between the groups of specialties were found.