Lee Phong Teck, Loh Julian, Sng Gerald, Tung Joshua, Yeo Khung Keong
Department of Cardiology, National Heart Centre Singapore, Singapore.
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Singapore Med J. 2018 Jan;59(1):50-54. doi: 10.11622/smedj.2017096. Epub 2017 Oct 12.
Empathy and burnout are two entities that are important in a physician's career. They are likely to relate to each other and can be heavily influenced by surrounding factors, such as medical education, local practices and cultural expectations. To our knowledge, empathy and burnout studies have not been performed in Singapore. This study was designed to evaluate empathy and burnout levels using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) among residents in Singapore, and compare them with the United States (US) literature.
The JSPE, MBI and a self-designed questionnaire were completed by 446 trainees at a residency-sponsoring institution in Singapore.
Residents in Singapore had lower empathy and higher rates of burnout compared to US literature. Physician empathy was associated with burnout: residents with higher empathy scores had higher personal accomplishment (p < 0.001, r = 0.477, r = 0.200); and lower emotional exhaustion (p < 0.001, r = 0.187, r = 0.035) and depersonalisation (p < 0.001, r = 0.321, r = 0.103) scores.
Residents in Singapore had lower empathy and higher burnout scores compared to the US literature. Further research into the underlying cause is imperative to guide intervention.
同理心和职业倦怠是医生职业生涯中两个重要的方面。它们可能相互关联，并可能受到周围因素的严重影响，如医学教育、当地医疗实践和文化期望。据我们所知，新加坡尚未开展关于同理心和职业倦怠的研究。本研究旨在使用杰斐逊医生同理心量表（JSPE）和马氏职业倦怠量表（MBI）评估新加坡住院医师的同理心和职业倦怠水平，并将其与美国的文献进行比较。
新加坡一家住院医师培训机构的446名学员完成了JSPE、MBI和一份自行设计的问卷。
与美国文献相比，新加坡的住院医师同理心较低，职业倦怠率较高。医生的同理心与职业倦怠相关：同理心得分较高的住院医师个人成就感较高（p < 0.001，r = 0.477，r = 0.200）；情感耗竭（p < 0.001，r = 0.187，r = 0.035）和去个性化（p < 0.001，r = 0.321，r = 0.103）得分较低。
与美国文献相比，新加坡的住院医师同理心较低，职业倦怠得分较高。有必要对潜在原因进行进一步研究以指导干预措施。
