Abstract
Authors: Marcus D. Fazzari, DO (1), Joseph Longobardi, DO (1), Joseph McCarthy, DO (1), Matthew Hysell, MD (1) and Sidney Hann, MS (2)
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Introduction: Burnout is very common in emergency medicine and there has been extensive research evaluating factors that contribute to burnout. We sought to examine the contributions of post-graduate year (PGY), shifts worked per month, patients seen per shift, and length of shifts to emergency medicine resident burnout.
Methods: All emergency medicine residents were surveyed with regards to their PGY, shifts worked per month, patients seen per shift, and length of shifts. They were administered the Stanford Wellness Survey and asked to globally rate their degree of burnout. We then modeled whether consideration of the surveyed factors increased the predictability of the Stanford Wellness Survey to residents’ self-assessment of burnout.
Results: Two hundred thirty-six residents completed the survey. The Stanford Wellness Survey indicated that while 93% of respondents met criteria for professional fulfillment, 59% were also at increased risk for burnout. PGY, shifts worked per month, and patients seen per shift did not significantly contribute to burnout. The Stanford Wellness Survey by itself correctly predicted residents’ degree of burnout 61% of the time. Incorporating shift length with the Stanford Wellness Survey did improve the model to 65%. Increasing from 8 to 10 hours (p < 0.05) and 8 to 12 hours (p < 0.05) increased burnout. Variable shift length had the highest odds of predicting burnout (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Longer shifts were associated with a higher chance of burnout. Variable shift lengths had the highest odds ratio of being associated with burnout.
Affiliation:
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Spectrum Health Lakeland
- Office of Research, Spectrum Health