Diagnosis of Burnout Syndrome in primary care doctors

Abstract

Introduction: Burnout syndrome is a response to chronic work stress. This syndrome is becoming more and more common among primary health care physicians, following the increase in workload and the failure of tools to reduce stress.

Objective: to identify the presence of Burnout Syndrome in primary care doctors.

Methods: a cross-sectional descriptive study during the month of December 2023 was made. The universe was made up of 52 specialists and residents of Comprehensive General Medicine linked to an office at the Romárico Oro Polyclinic. The non-probabilistic sample was made up of 40 specialists. and residents who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. For the diagnosis of Burnout Syndrome, the Maslach Burnout Inventory was used. The variables age, sex, marital status, years since graduation, risk of Burnout and Burnout syndrome were used. The aspects established in the Declaration of Helsinki were complied with.

Results: the most common age was between 25 and 34 years (45%), females predominated. There were no major differences with respect to years since graduation and risk of Burnout, although the 1-4 years group presented the largest number of people with a risk diagnosis (10%). Burnout syndrome was diagnosed in four (4) of the doctors studied, the majority of these belonged to the married marital status (7.5% of the total and 75% of those diagnosed).

Conclusions: although the presence of Burnout Syndrome was not high, there are several professionals who are at risk of developing it.