Prevalence of burnout of residents in oman medical specialty board: A cross-sectional study in Oman

Abstract

Objective: Burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion and a sense of low personal accomplishment. Our aim was to study the prevalence of burnout among all residents of Oman Medical Specialty Board (OMSB), to increase awareness of burnout among trainers and trainees not only within Oman but also in other countries with similar residency programs. This would help residency directors to increase the performance of their residents. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with residents of OMSB involved in 17 training programs from April 2018 to April 2019. The residents were invited to answer a validated burnout questionnaire (Maslach Burnout Inventory). Only exclusion criteria were programs with at least three residents. Results: A total of 343 of 555 residents (61.8% of the total OMSB residents) participated in the study. The response rate was 100% of those who got the survey. The overall burnout rate was 16.6%. From postgraduate years (PGY) 1–5, there was a sudden spike of burnout at PGY 2 and PGY 5 at 17.6% and 25%, respectively. Emergency residents had the highest incidence of burnout at 46.2%. Burnouts among surgical, medical, and diagnostic specialties were 13.9%, 19.0%, and 12.8%, respectively. Chi-squared test showed no significant association between burnout and marital status, gender, or number of children at 0.18, 0.88, and 0.55, respectively. The percentage of residents who reported emotional exhaustion was 61.2%, while the highest percentage of depersonalization was 42.6%. Conclusion: Emergency medicine program burnout is alarming. PGY 2 and 5 show higher burnout. The overall burnout in OMSB is low.