Original contributionAnesthesiology residency program director burnout☆
Introduction
Anesthesiology program directors are responsible for overseeing the successful training of the future generations of anesthesiologists. Among their professional responsibilities are the recruitment of new residents, development and supervision of an education curriculum, scheduling clinical coverage, and assurance of compliance guidelines from the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and specialty board requirements. In addition, they are frequently called on for guidance by the house staff and occasionally to address behavioral problems among residents.
Burnout is a work-related psychological syndrome characterized by emotional exhaustion, low personal accomplishment, and depersonalization [1]. Burnout differs from depression in that it is limited to the work environment; depression involves both professional and personal life. Clinical manifestations of burnout are commonly nonspecific and include fatigue, sleep and eating disorders, headache, and emotional instability. It is also associated with impaired job performance, and it may contribute to alcoholism and drug addiction [1]. The prevalence of burnout is higher among individuals whose job involves interactions with people, eg, physicians, nurses, and social workers [2]. Leadership burnout may not only affect the individual but the whole health care organization [3]. It is conceivable that program directors are at high risk of developing burnout as a result of the high amount of personal interaction involved in the demands of their job.
The objective of this study was to evaluate work-related stress as well as personal factors associated with professional burnout in anesthesiology program directors. We adapted a cross-sectional survey similar to one that we used to evaluate burnout in anesthesiology department chairpersons [4].
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Materials and methods
The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Northwestern University. A cross-sectional nationwide survey was sent to 132 program directors in the United States. The distribution list was created using the 2009-2010 Directory of the American Medical Association section of Graduate Medical Education. The survey was created using SurveyMonkey software (SurveyMonkey Com LLC, Portland, OR, USA). To promote the confidentiality of the respondents, the survey was configured to delink
Results
One hundred program directors responded to the survey, 72 via the electronic version and 28 through the mail, corresponding to a response rate of 76%. Four surveys had insufficient response for adequate analysis of burnout. Distribution of characteristics of program directors and their positions are shown in Table 1. There was no difference in the median number of work hours by gender (P = 0.41) or duration of appointment (P = 0.27). The median number of residents in programs in which program
Discussion
The important finding of this study is the high incidence of burnout (21%) among anesthesiology program directors in the United States. When considering the program directors who are at high risk for developing the syndrome (defined by a Maslach score of moderate-high burnout), the number reaches 52%. Program directors of anesthesiology constantly deal with the challenges of running an educational program, including processing frequent changes in compliance and requirements of the ACGME, and
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Financial Support: Department of Anesthesiology, Northwestern University.