Burnout and Health Scores Among Residency Programs as an Indicator of Wellness

BACKGROUND: With long hours, significant responsibilities, and a heavy workload, residency can be an incredibly stressful experience. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of residency on mental health and wellness. A secondary aim was to determine if the post-graduate year (PGY) of the different residents impacted their mental health or ability to cope with the stressors of residency.

METHODS: Residents in anesthesiology, family medicine, internal medicine, and surgery were invited to complete a survey. The first portion of the survey had residents rank their mental health on a scale from 1 to 5. There was also a short-form answer portion, which collected suggestions on how to improve wellness. An analysis of variance was used to compare the means of 2 continuous outcome variables-Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) and burnout scores compared across specialties and post-graduate years. Burnout scores were measured using the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory. This survey was created and validated by psychology researchers to assess burnout based on the strongest indicators of burnout-emotional exhaustion and disengagement from work. The PHQ9 survey was chosen as it has a specificity of 91-94% and is a reliable method to screen for depression, a common companion to burnout.

RESULTS: PHQ9 scores were highest among surgery residents (7.2 ± 7.07), followed by anesthesia (6.59 ± 6.64), emergency medicine (5.57 ± 4.09), and internal medicine (4.82 ± 3.68). Scoring was also higher among PGY4-6 residents. Burnout scores were highest among surgery (37.8 ± 8.69) and anesthesia (38.17 ± 7.09) residents and among PGY4-6 residents. PGY4-6 residents had a mean burnout score of 38.55 ± 7.67 compared to 36.17 ± 8.69 among first-year residents. Similarly, the P value noted no significant difference among burnout scores across either specialty or year: .5930 and .8061.

CONCLUSION: There was no significant difference among specialties or years in training among their subjective ratings of depression.