Burnout Among Intensive Care Physicians

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Introduction: It is reported that burnout provokes serious problems in occupational behaviour especially among health care professionals who work in heavy working conditions. Aim: This descriptive study aims to identify the burnout levels of intensive care physicians. METHODS: Methods: Data were collected during a meeting held by Ministry of Health, from 64 of the 96 intensive care physicians attending from different cities and seven geographical regions of Turkey. Burnout was measured by using the Maslach Burnout Inventory that has 22 items consisting of three subscales: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. Besides, one more questionnaire with 16 questions for collecting demographic data of physicians was added. RESULTS: Results: The average point of participants got from the 'depersonalization' subscale (5.08+-3.18) indicates low burnout level. When the average points those intensive care physicians got from the other two subscales were evaluated, it can be said that they experience mid level burnout at 'emotional exhaustion' (15.56+-6.26) and 'personal accomplishment' (22.44+-3.69) subscales. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Conclusion: Intensive care physicians experienced mid level burnout at 'emotional exhaustion' and 'personal accomplishment' sub scales. It is recommended to perform the studies that aim to define the reasons of these results.

Keywords

• burnout
• intensive care
• intensive care specialist physician