Assessment of emergency medicine residents in the province of izmir from the perspective of burnout syndrome

Introduction: Burnout is a syndrome that arises among individuals who have to labor face-to-face with people through being insensitive towards the people they serve due to their professions, feeling emotionally and physically exhausted and waning of their feelings of competency and personal accomplishment. Despite the presence of many studies investigating the burnout levels of healthcare workers in the literature, there are few studies regarding the evaluation of burnout syndrome among emergency medicine residents particularly in our country. These studies were generally conducted on individuals in a single center and there are no studies comparing the centers. In this study, it was aimed to determine the burnout levels of emergency medicine residents being trained in different centers in the province of Izmir and the factors affecting these burnout levels. Materials and Method: Emergency medicine residents working in Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Medicine, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Univercity of Health Sciences İzmir Bozyaka Training and Research Hospital, İzmir Katip Celebi University, Atatürk Education and Research Hospital and Univercity of Health Sciences İzmir Tepecik Training and Research Hospital in the province of Izmir which give specialty training of emergency medicine were included in the study. The names of the emergency medicine residents were obtained as a result of the permissions obtained from the deanships of the relevant hospitals, chief physicians and İzmir Provincial Health Directorate. Residents were interviewed face-to-face during the training days. The data collection form consisted of 3 main sections. In the first part, there was a 36-question questionnaire about the socio-demographic, occupational and academic characteristics of the participants. In the second part, there was a 22-item Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) questionnaire consisting of 9 Emotional Exhaustion (EE), 8 Personal Accomplishment (PA) and 5 Depersonalization (DP). In the third part, there was the data form which included the number of patients, the number of employees and similar questions belonging to the emergency department they worked. The data were analyzed via SPSS 22.0 program. Results: Out of 184 emergency medicine residents, 152 (83%) of them participated in the study. Of the residents who participated in the study, 53 (34,9%) were female. Their ages ranged between 26 and 42. 60 residents (39,5%) were married and 31 (20,4%) of the residents had kids. 76 (50%) were smokers, 112 (74%) were alcohol taker and 22 (25%) of them were users of pleasure-giving substances. The residents' score of MBI-EE was 23,17 (± 6,68), MBI-DP 11,11 (± 3,97), while MBI-PA was 19 (± 5,00). The factors most commonly associated with these high levels of burnout were orderly identified as disruptions in daily life due to call duties, exposure to verbal or physical violence, female gender, exposure to mobbing, problems regarding the functioning of hospital, troubles with superiors, insufficiency of medical research opportunities, not being able to find time for eating and resting during call duties, excessive working hours, being single, not having children, being under the age of 30 and being in the first year of Emergency Medicine Residency. By a comparison of the data of the centers providing training in emergency medicine in the province of Izmir and the burnout levels of the residents, we have identified that burnout levels of residents working in centers with higher number of specialists with academic titles were higher. In those centers where the number of emergency medicine residents, nurses and staff per m2 is higher, the burnout levels of emergency medicine residents were lower. Contrary to expectations, the number of patients and some related factors (m2, number of stretchers, emergency medicine residents and staff per patient) were associated with lower burnout levels Conclusion: As a result of this study, it was determined that burnout levels of emergency medicine residents in İzmir were quite high. In addition to socio-demographic and occupational factors, local factors of emergency departments also played an important role in the emergence of this condition. In line with these findings, in order to reduce burnout levels of emergency medicine residents, it is necessary to take measures to improve working conditions of residents, to ensure working safety, to improve relations with their superiors and to eliminate deficiencies in emergency services. Keywords: burnout syndrome, emergency medicine, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment