Abstract
Background and aims: Burnout Syndrome is a response to chronic occupational stress that may affect to many professional categories. It leads to low quality professional care, poor doctorpatient relationship, decreased ability to express empathy and increased medical errors. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of Burnout Syndrome among pediatric intensivistsand compare to a group of general pediatricians.
Methods: a case control study was conducted, selecting the pediatric intensivists working on duty in two regional and referral Brazilian PICU(PICU group) whereas an equal number of general pediatricians working with outpatients in the same hospitals were included as the control group(GPA group). Two blind researchers evaluated the both groups using the Portuguese version of the MBIMaslach Burnout Inventory scale. The protocol was approved by the PUCRS Ethics Committee.
Results: 35 cases and 35 controls were evaluated. No demographic differences between the groups were observed. Burnout was present in 71% of the PICU group and in 29% of the GPA group(p< 0.01). The average score for all dimensions were higher for the emotional exhaustion(EE) and depersonalization(DE), and lower for professional accomplishment(PA) in the PICU group (P=0.0003). The multivariate analysis demonstrated that working in a PICU has independently associated with Burnout with an odds ratio 5.7(CI95%;1.9-16.7) when compared to general pediatrician.
Conclusions: Burnout among pediatric intensivists is frequent and characteristically manifested by high levels of EE and DE and low levels of PA suggesting low quality of life, emotional suffering and professional dissatisfaction.
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Branco, R., Garcia, T., Molon, M. et al. 1138 Burnout Syndrome Among Pediatricians: A Case Control Study Comparing Pediatric Intensivists and General Pediatricians. Pediatr Res 68 (Suppl 1), 564 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-201011001-01138
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-201011001-01138