Burnout in National Collegiate Athletic Association Physicians: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND

Burnout has been associated with decreased quality of patient care and results in an estimated cost of roughly $5 billion per year. With a growing awareness of burnout prevalence in high-level athletes, the physicians working with the athletic departments of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) institutions can be forgotten.

PURPOSE

To assess the prevalence of burnout among physicians of the NCAA teams and assess predictors that may lead to burnout.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey using the Professional Fulfillment Index scale with demographic data was sent to multiple Division I NCAA conferences. Eligible participants included any physicians who care directly for Division I NCAA teams. Each item was assessed on a 5-point Likert scale, and comparisons were made between those who did and did not achieve burnout. Linear and logistic regression models were used to assess predictors of burnout score and achievement of burnout, respectively.

RESULTS

Of the 89 completed responses, 79 (79/89; 89%) participants qualified as having achieved burnout. No significant differences were identified in burnout achievement based on patient demographics. Specifically, there was no difference in burnout achievement based on specialty ( = .16), taking call ( = .05), or years in practice ( = .12). A linear regression model showed that the only significant predictor of burnout score was specialty, with family medicine-sports medicine and Other both associated with greater burnout scores ( < .001 and = .002, respectively) compared with orthopaedics.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of burnout in NCAA physicians is extremely high, even compared with the rate of other physicians, and the lack of predictive factors shows this issue to be multifactorial. Further studies need to be conducted with larger sample sizes, as well as isolating historical factors of burnout, to better improve the health of this unique physician population.