Citation

Esposito AC, White EM, Coppersmith NA, Huot SJ, Asnes AG, Yoo PS, Solomon DG. J. Am. Coll. Surg. 2022; 234(6): 1111-1117.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, American College of Surgeons, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1097/XCS.0000000000000169

PMID

35703807

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Resident burnout is associated with increased incidence of depression, suicide, and poor patient outcomes, yet identification of it is difficult. This study was designed to compare how well program directors (directors) and a resident's spouse or domestic partner (partner) can serve as a proxy to identify burnout in the resident. STUDY DESIGN: An electronic survey, including the Maslach Burnout Inventory, was distributed to residents, their partners, and directors of all ACGME-accredited residencies at a single university-affiliated hospital. Burnout rates were compared with McNemar's test. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization rates were compared with Spearman's correlation.

RESULTS: The response rate by respondent type was 33% (292 of 876) for residents, 48% (55 of 114) for partners, and 57% (13 of 23) for directors. Residents' self-reported burnout rate was 51% (148 of 292), while partners' proxy predicted burnout rate was 25% (14 of 55), and directors' was 5% (9 of 174). There was moderate correlation of partners' prediction of resident emotional exhaustion (ρ = 0.537, p < 0.01), depersonalization (ρ = 0.501, p < 0.01), and personal accomplishment (ρ = 0.416, p < 0.01). There was poor correlation of directors' prediction of residents' emotional exhaustion (ρ = 0.361, p < 0.01) and depersonalization (ρ = 0.223, p < 0.01). Partners had a 50% sensitivity, 94% specificity, 86% positive predictive value, and 71% negative predictive value in predicting resident burnout. Directors had a 6% sensitivity, 96% specificity, 56% positive predictive value, and 54% negative predictive value in predicting resident burnout.

CONCLUSIONS: Directors are not skilled in detecting burnout in their trainees. Partners are an underused group for detecting burnout and may represent an important target audience for awareness of available resources to benefit residents.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Spouses; Surveys and Questionnaires; *Internship and Residency; *Burnout, Professional/diagnosis/epidemiology/psychology; Burnout, Psychological/epidemiology