BURNOUT IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE PHYSICIANS: A PILOT STUDY

The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of burnout among physicians of primary health care. A survey was conducted to measure burnout among a sample of primary care practitioners. The questionnaire included demographic details and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). The score of each subscale of MBI was considered separately. A survey was conducted among 240 physicians; 184 physicians responded to the survey (76.7% response rate) and 134 questionnaires were analyzed. Among participating physicians women were more frequent (89.6%); mean age was 48.9 years. Physicians of narrow specialization made 36.6%, 34.4% physicians were therapists, 18.7% were pediatricians and 10.4% were general practitioners and worked in a rural environment. In terms of burnout, 32.8% of respondents had a high score for emotional exhaustion (EE), 49.3% had a high score for depersonalization (DP), 48.5% had a low score for professional accomplishment (PA). High scores for burnout in all three dimensions were recorded in 16.4% of respondents. The mean score was 24.3 (SD: 5.8) on EE subscale, 10.1(SD: 3.3) on DP subscale and 33.7 (SD: 4.4). on the PA subscale. The results of this research revealed that two-thirds of respondents in this study are high burnout affected.