The Status Quo of Doctors' Occupational Burnout and Its Correlation Analysis with the Cognition of Doctor-Patient Relationship Tensity in China

Abstract

Background: Today, the doctors' occupational burnout and the tense doctor-patient relationship (DPR) are two hot issues. The doctors' occupational burnout and cognition of DPR tensity might affect each other, but there is a lack of quantitative evaluation. Our aim is to understand the status quo of doctors' occupational burnout in China, analyze its correlation with the cognition of DPR tensity. Methods: Take 265 doctors in the clinical departments of a general hospital in China as respondents, conduct a survey of the degree of occupational burnout with Maslach Burnout Inventory, score the cognitive quantification of DPR tensity with Difficult Doctor-Patient Relationship Questionnaire-8, and analyze the correlation between them. The cognitive quantitative scores of DPR tensity were also given to 762 inpatients and compared with the doctors' cognitive scores. Findings: The degrees of occupational burnout in doctors, including three dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and sense of personal achievement, were high. The proportions of moderate or more burnout were 49·8%, 53·2% and 48·7%, respectively. There was a statistical difference in occupational burnout among doctors of different ages and professional titles (P<0·05). Doctors' cognition of DPR tensity was significantly worse than patients' cognition (P<0·01). The degrees of emotional exhaustion and dehumanization were positively correlated with the poor cognition of DPR tensity in doctors (P<0·001). The degree of sense of personal achievement was negatively correlated with the poor cognition in doctors (P<0·001). Interpretation: Doctors' age and professional title are important factors that affect the high degree of occupational burnout. On the whole, doctors do not have positive cognition of DPR tensity, which is different from that of patiens. The degree of occupational burnout is closely related to the poor cognition of DPR tensity in doctors. Funding: Medical Science and Technology Project of Henan Province. Declaration of Interest: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical Approval: The effective rate was 100%. Studies were approved by the Ethics Committee of Zhengzhou University.