Background & Rationale: Burnout syndrome (BOS) is a psychological state resulting
from prolonged exposure to job stressors. It is commonly observed in occupations with
human interaction. The most visible impact of burnout is a decrease in work performance
and the overall quality of service, and within healthcare professionals, BOS correlates
with reported medical errors. Academic healthcare workers are particularly predisposed
to experience BOS given the high level of work-related stress that characterizes their jobs.
There is a scarcity of studies investigating burnout in academic clinicians.
Objective: The goal of this study is to identify the prevalence of burnout in academic
clinicians in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University and investigate
potential demographic and workload variables that contribute to self-reported measures of
burnout.
Methods: A novel modification to the MBI (Maslach Burnout Inventory) scale was
distributed to all academic clinicians at McMaster University through an internet-based
survey. The MBI scale was modified to reflect three hypothesized sources of burnout for
academic clinicians: interactions with students/trainees, interactions with patients and
interactions with administration. The scale comprised of three dimensions of burnout:
Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalization (DP) and Personal accomplishment (PA).
Demographic and workload data were also collected.
Results: Factor analysis and internal consistency showed that the modified MBI scale
was associated with valid and reliable scores, respectively, within this population. Results
showed that academic clinicians experienced high levels of burnout due to administration interactions relative to that attributed to patients and students. The prevalence of burnout
for the EE subscale are: administration = 51.8%;, patients = 26.4%, students = 11.7%);
for the DP subscale: administration = 44.8%, patients, = 24.5%, students, = 9.8%); and
the PA subscale: administration =16.3%, patients = 33.4%, students =33.7%). Regression
analyses suggested that young age, surgical specialty, low academic rank, academic main
practice, female gender, numerous night shifts and living alone contribute to EE and DP
subscales. Meanwhile, high number of patients under their care was shown to contribute
to increasing PA.
Conclusion: Burnout Syndrome is prevalent among academic clinicians at McMaster
University. The major source of burnout was attributed to interactions with administration.
Surgical specialties and young faculty staff members correlated with burnout. Further
studies are needed to further characterize the nature of administrative interactions that
contribute to burnout and to solidify other contributing variables. / Thesis / Master of Health Sciences (MSc) / Burnout syndrome (BOS), is a syndrome characterized by depleted energy resources, dealing with people as if they were impersonal objects and with decreased personal accomplishment. Physicians and educators are at risk of the syndrome. BOS has been linked to providing suboptimal care and medical errors. Our study investigated the prevalence of BOS in academic clinicians (physicians who work in a teaching hospitals) since they have two roles; physicians and educators. We also investigated any demographic variables related to BOS. We have created a novel modifications to Maslach Burnout Inventory ( one of the main scales used to measure BOS). We have established its validity and reliability. Our study showed that almost 50% of academic clinicians have burnout. Major source is due to their interaction with administration, followed by interaction with patients and lastly interaction with studens. Surgeons, females, young age, single, increased night on-call and low academic rank were predictors for burnout. A larger scale study is needed to pinpoint the kind if administrative interaction that is related to BOS. The ultimate goal is to make our teaching hospital work environment more friendly and transpiring to better patient care.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/16518 |
| Date | 06 1900 |
| Creators | Nassar, Aussama Khalaf |
| Contributors | McConnell, Meghan, Education |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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