Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue Among General Surgeons: a Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study

General surgery is a tough but satisfactory career that requires commitment, discipline, and self-sacrifice. The perception about his/her own life of the health care provider has consequences on the provider and the provided. The aim of this study is to evaluate the compassion satisfaction (CS), burnout (BO), and secondary traumatic stress (STS) among the general surgeons and to evaluate the effects of the demographics and occupational components on these experiences. This study was conducted between August and October 2019 in Turkey. A survey was performed among the general surgeons by using demographics and occupational information questions and the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL). The study group comprised of 399 surgeons who consented to participate and completed the survey are enrolled in the study. Among the participants, more than 95% of the general surgeons had average-high compassion satisfaction, and low-average burnout and secondary traumatic stress. The mean compassion satisfaction scores of the surgeons working in private and university hospitals were higher than the ones working in state hospitals and training/research hospitals, while the mean burnout scores were higher in state hospitals and training/research hospitals than the private hospitals. Surgeons working in the state hospitals and training/research hospitals have a lower quality of life than the other groups. Occupational stress and burnout prevention and intervention strategies should be developed in the hospitals in Turkey where the rates of occupational burnout are significantly high among surgeons.