Frequency of Workplace Burnout Among Postgraduate Trainees in a Teaching Hospital in Mirpur.

BACKGROUND

Work-related stress and burnout among medical practitioners has been a frequently studied phenomenon. It reduces work efficiency and productivity and also has negative impacts on patient care. This study assessed the extent of work-related stress and burnout and the reasons behind this burnout among the Internal Medicine and Pulmonology residents of Mirpur, Azad Kashmir.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This cross-sectional, observational study was conducted among the postgraduate trainees of Internal Medicine and Pulmonology in Mohi-uddin Islamic Medical College and Hospital, Mirpur, Azad Kahsmir. Out of the 70 trainees, 64 completed the study (response rate: 85.3%). The trainees recorded their sociodemographic profile including age, gender, marital status, name of the department, and year of training. Work-related stress and burnout were assessed using a 28-question-based Burnout Questionnaire adapted from the American Welfare Association. Reasons of burnout among the postgraduate trainees were recorded. Data were analyzed using SPSS v. 21.

RESULTS

There were 45 men (70.3%) and 19 women (29.6%). The mean age of the trainees was 29.25 ± 2.87 years. No stress and professional burnout was reported in 20.3% residents; 29.6% residents had stress but no professional burnout; 23.4% residents had fair chances of burnout; 14% residents had early burnout; and 12.5% residents had advanced burnout. Higher grades of burnout are more common among male residents, those who are married, and those in early years of postgraduate training. Common reasons of work-related burnout were reported to be long work hours (68.75%), decreased job satisfaction (54.7%), and lack of workplace facilities (45.3%).

CONCLUSION

Most of the residents in Mirpur have work-related stress and are at the verge of burning out. Large-scale studies, assessing more correlates, must be conducted in this region to give a better understanding of this phenomenon and help formulate plans to prevent and manage work-related stress and burnout among the postgraduate trainees.