Medical graduates, tertiary hospitals, and burnout: a longitudinal cohort study

Background: Burnout among junior doctors can affect patient care. We conducted a longitudinal cohort study designed to explore the incidence of burnout in medical interns and to examine the changes in burnout during the course of the intern year. Methods: Interns were recruited at two tertiary hospitals in Brisbane, Australia (n=180). Participants completed surveys at four time points during their internship year. All interns (100%) completed the baseline survey during their orientation. Response rates were 85%, 88%, and 79%, respectively, at 5-week, 6-month, and 12-month follow-up. Results: Interns reported high levels of personal and work-related burnout throughout the year that peaked at 6 months with mean scores of 42.53 and 41.81, respectively. Increases of 5.1 points (confidence interval [CI] 2.5, 7.7; P=0.0001) and 3.5 points (CI 1.3, 5.6; P=0.0015) were seen at 6 months for personal and work-related burnout, respectively. The mean score for patientrelated burnout at 12 months was 25.57, and this number had increased significantly by 5.8 points (CI 3.2, 8.5;