Burnout syndrome among dermatologists and assessment of prevalence and risk factors: A nationwide survey

Background: Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of low personal accomplishment. Increasing patient volumes and rising health-care systems' productivity targets also pose a risk of burnout in all specialties including dermatology. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to study burnout syndrome in dermatologists and determine related factors. Methods: Dermatologists who were actively working (n = 2005) were E-mailed a questionnaire via the Turkish Dermatology Society, and 422 (21%) completed it anonymously. The first part of the questionnaire comprised demographic and work-related characteristics, and the second part was formed by the Turkish version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). The MBI is a 22-item questionnaire for the assessment of burnout in the following three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment. Results: Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores of residents were significantly higher (P < 0.001), and personal accomplishment scores were significantly lower (P < 0.001) than that of the other groups. Dermatologists in the private sector had significantly lower scores for emotional exhaustion (P < 0.001) and depersonalization (P < 0.001) and significantly higher scores for personal accomplishment (P < 0.001) than those working in the public sector. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores were significantly higher in participants who worked on weekends, those intended to change workplace, and had at least one chronic illness (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). A positive correlation was found between emotional exhaustion and depersonalization (r = 0.691,P < 0.001), number of patients (r = 0.355,P < 0.001), and number of shifts (r = 0.344,P < 0.001), and there was a negative correlation between personal accomplishment (r = -0.485,P < 0.001), age (r= -0.301,P < 0.001), number of vacation days (r = -0.149, P= 0.002), and years in the profession (r = -0.288,P < 0.001). Conclusion: Our study sheds light on factors that influence burnout and also indicates a need for health-care reforms for dermatologists' satisfaction and burnout, as well as patient satisfaction and quality of care.