Burnout in emergency physicians and trainees in Australasia

Objective: To measure the prevalence of burnout and potential cases of psychiatric disorder among emergency physicians and advanced trainees of emergency medicine in Australasia. Methods: A postal survey of all Fellows and advanced trainees of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and General Health Questionnaire-28 was performed. Results: The survey showed that 71.8% of respondents had moderate to high levels of emotional exhaustion, 69.9% had moderate to high levels of depersonalization and 48.7% had moderate to low perception of personal accomplishment. A General Health Questionnaire-28 score of 6 or more, indicating potential cases of psychiatric disorder, was seen in 26.8% of respondents. Burnout was correlated with male gender, trainee status, longer working hours, weekend shifts, shift work, work dissatisfaction, self-report of feeling stressed and a desire to stop working in the emergency department within 10 years. Conclusions: There are emergency physicians and advanced trainees of emergency medicine working in emergency departments suffering from considerable burnout with a risk of psychiatric disorder. Those with burnout are likely to consider stopping work in the emergency department within 10 years. Interventions to improve the wellbeing of these doctors should be considered.