Abstract

Background: Burnout is associated with decreased job performance and low career satisfaction. It has a special significance in health care, where staff experience both psychological–emotional and physical stress.

Aims & Objective: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of burnout, and its associated factors, amongst primary care doctors (PHC) in Riyadh Military Hospital RMH.

Material and Methods: A cross-sectional survey of PHC was conducted using a custom-designed and validated questionnaire which incorporated the Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) as well as questions about demographic factors, working experience, health, lifestyle and job satisfaction. MBI-HSS scores were analyzed in the three dimensions of emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP) and personal accomplishment (PA).

Results: Almost 200 questionnaires were distributed, and 144 were returned to give a response rate of 72%. In terms of burnout, 53.5% of respondents scored high for EE burnout, 38.9% for DP and 28.5% for PA, with 2.78% scoring high burnout in all three dimensions. Just over one-quarter of doctors did not score high for burnout in any dimension. High burnout was found to be strongly associated with several of the variables under study, especially low job satisfaction, expressed intention to change job, tobacco consumption and use of psychotropic medication, younger age, recent graduation, married and board qualified doctors.

Conclusion: Burnout seems to be a common problem in PHC doctors in RMH and is associated with personal and workload indicators. Recommendations for improving employment conditions of PHC physicians and future research is needed to explore the problem in depth, develop models to describe the phenomenon and to identify causative factors and effective intervention strategies.

Key words: Burnout; Denationalization; Personal Accomplishment; Primary Care Physicians