Burnout among American surgeons

Background. The long term consequences of stress on the surgeon are unknown . One manifestation of stress is burnout. The Purpose of this study was to measure the prevalence of burnout in actively practicing American surgeons. Methods. The Maslach Burnout Inventory and a questionnaire of our own desig n were sent to 1706 graduates Of various University of Michigan surgical re sidencies (1222) and members of the Midwest Surgical Association (484). The response rate was 44%. Responses from 582 actively practicing surgeons wer e the sample used for analysis. Results. Thirty-two Percent of actively practicing surgeons showed "high" l evels of emotional exhaustion, 13% showed "high" levels of depersonalizatio n, and 4% showed evidence for low personal accomplishment. Younger surgeons were more susceptible to burnout (r = -0.28, P < .01). Burnout was not rel ated to caseload, practice setting, or percent of patients insured by a hea lth maintenance organization. Important etiologic factors were a sense that work was "overwhelming" (r = 0.61, P < .01), a perceived imbalance between career, family, and personal growth (r = -0.56), P < .01), perceptions tha t Career was unrewarding (r = -0.42, P < .01), and lack of autonomy or deci sion involvement (r = -0.39, P < .01). A strong association was noted betwe en burnout elements and a desire to retire early (r = 0.50, P < .01). Conclusions. Burnout is an important Problem for actively practicing Americ an surgeons. These data could be used to modify existing surgical training curricula or as an aid to surgical leadership when negotiating about the su rgical work environment.