Factors Associated With Burnout Amongst Medical Students, Residents, And Attendings In Orthopaedics

Burnout is an important and timely topic in medicine as a whole and orthopaedics as a specialty. Prior studies analyzing burnout in orthopaedics generally assess for the prevalence of burnout, without using a targeted analysis on possible causes and/or the potential association with work hours. An anonymous survey was given to 24 medical students on surgical rotations, 20 orthopaedic residents, and 20 orthopaedic surgeons between June 2019 and August 2019 at a single academic institution. The survey inquired about demographics, general attributes (job satisfaction, home support, control over life/schedule), work hours, and included the abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory [aMBI]. Residents worked the most hours per week (p \u3c0.0001). Control over life/schedule was greatest for attendings (p= 0.0036). In terms of the aMBI scores, depersonalization was highest for residents (p= 0.0020), and personal accomplishment was highest for attendings (p=0.0095). Taking all survey participants together, work hours positively correlated with greater depersonalization (p=0.015), greater sense of personal accomplishment (p=0.049), but not with emotional exhaustion. With work hours positively correlating with depersonalization and personal accomplishment, continuing to focus on these factors seems important. With higher job satisfaction correlating with lower emotional exhaustion and higher personal accomplishment, thinking of ways to increase job satisfaction is a potential area of future research. Burnout is a topic that will need to continue to be addressed for the well-being of our profession and further considered in the era of COVID stresses on healthcare providers