Burnout and its related factors in staffs of university hospitals in Mashhad in 2006

Background: Burnout syndrome includes aspects of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and decrement of personal accomplishment. Medical staffs are vulnerable to burnout syndrome because of their exposure to physical and psychological stressors. The present study assessed the rate of burnout syndrome and its relation to demographic characteristics in medical staffs of university hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Material and method: In this descriptive-analytical study, we randomly selected 660 staffs of university hospitals of Mashhad by multi-stage sampling. Data was collected using the demographic questionnaire and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) that assessed prevalence rates of different aspects of burnout including emotional exhaustion (range 0-54), depersonalization (0-30) and personal accomplishment (0-48) in likert rating scale. Data was statistically analyzed using SPSS. Results: This study showed that mean scores for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment of subjects were 20.74 (medium severity), 7.35 (medium severity) and 25.66 (low severity), respectively. These dimensions of burnout had significant relationships with age, occupational history, and level of education, job and hospital. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were higher in women than men. Married subjects had higher personal accomplishment. Conclusions: The rates of all aspects of burnout syndrome were high in this study in comparison with other studies. Burnout affects the occupational, familial and personal functioning. In addition, it results in absence from work and early retirement. Therefore, reduction of stressors in the hospitals by organization of occupational factors should be considered.