[Correlation between the level of work satisfaction and professional burnout in family physicians]

To determine the correlation between labour satisfaction and physician wear out.

There was a cross sectional study with all the family doctors from four Units of Family Medicine from Cancun (n = 102), with four or more years of medical practice. The questionnaire Red Font was used for labour satisfaction and Maslach Burnout Inventory for professional wear out, as well as the coefficient of correlation of Kendall.

The predominant level of labour satisfaction was the medium (50.5%). the low level of wear out prevailed (50.5%). Medical doctors with medium or high satisfaction had low to medium wear out, and those who were reported with low satisfaction had moderate and high wear out. In the analysis bivariate between labour satisfaction and professional wear out the association was statistically significant, although there was not correlation (Kendall = -0.281).

In contrast with other studies where they found an inversely proportional relationship, in this study any correlation was found. The ideal situation could be that all medical doctors develop high satisfaction and low professional wear of; however this didn't happen through this study. It is very important to study all the factors that have influence to elevate the professional wear of and dissatisfaction in our medical doctors to develop programs that allow to cope these problems.