[Study of the influence of labor and sociodemographic factors on the development of professional burnout syndrome in the area of specialized medicine of INSALUD in Avila].

BACKGROUND

The burnout syndrome is characterized by emotional exhaustion (basis of the decrease of self-esteem), depersonalization and decrease of the feeling of personal accomplishment, above all, in the field of professional achievements. It appears to be frequent in the helping professions and the human services workers, and in its origin labour factors seem to intervene. The authors intend to determine the degree of burnout among physicians and to assess the influence of labour and sociodemographic factors on the emotional state of physicians.

METHODS

One hundred fifty-six physicians of the Avila Health Service Area participated. A general questionnaire and the Spanish version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory were used. The statistical analysis includes the analysis of variance, the Pearson's correlation coefficient and the Student's t test.

RESULTS

The profile of the studies professional is a 37 year old male, married, who has been working for 13 years in his profession and who has had his current job for eight with a professional category of consultant. In general, they are not satisfied with their work, they do not value highly the personal policy of their managers and they hardly identify themselves with the enterprise, if at all. These negative labour aspects were correlated with the burnout syndrome, whose values indicated high levels of professional exhaustion.

CONCLUSIONS

Improvements in the work conditions are suggested and in its organization such as the physicians' participations in management, definition of positions and assessment of individual situations.