Evaluating the Association of Multiple Burnout Definitions and Thresholds With Prevalence and Outcomes
Summary & key facts
Researchers surveyed doctors training to become general surgeons across the country. They found that how you define “burnout” changes how common it looks. Still, people with frequent burnout symptoms were much more likely to think about quitting their training and to have suicidal thoughts, no matter which definition or cutoff the researchers used. The authors say future studies should always say exactly how they measured burnout and why.
- The study looked at general surgery residents across the United States, meaning doctors who are still in surgical training.
- How common burnout appeared depended a lot on which definition or threshold the researchers chose. Different definitions gave very different prevalence numbers.
- Residents who reported frequent burnout symptoms were much more likely to report thoughts of leaving their training program.
- Those links between frequent burnout symptoms and thoughts of quitting or suicide held true regardless of the burnout threshold used. In other words, the association did not depend on the exact definition.
- The researchers recommend that future burnout studies clearly describe and justify the specific definition or cutoff they use, so results can be compared and understood better.
Abstract
In a national evaluation of general surgery residents, prevalence estimates of burnout varied considerably, depending on the burnout definition selected. Frequent burnout symptoms were strongly associated with both thoughts of attrition and suicide, regardless of the threshold selected. Future research on burnout should explicitly include a clear description and rationale for the burnout definition used.
