Burnout and Job Satisfaction Among Family Medicine Residency Coordinators: Results From a National Survey

Research into rates of burnout and job satisfaction among family medicine residency coordinators is nonexistent. Coordinators play a pivotal role in medical education, sometimes have multiple roles and titles, and often work in stressful environments. The goals of this study were to explore the prevalence of, and relationship between, burnout and job satisfaction among family medicine residency coordinators.

This national wellness study involved 307 family medicine residency coordinators. Modified questions of the Professional Quality of Life Scale, Version 5 were used to measure participants' burnout and job satisfaction rates. The authors used chi-square tests, Pearson's r correlations, and multiple linear regression to analyze the data.

The response rate was 72% (307/429), with 24% of family medicine residency coordinators reporting high, 51% reporting moderate, and 26% reporting low rates of work-related burnout. Twenty-eight percent of the family medicine residency coordinators reported high, 46% moderate, and 26% low job satisfaction. There was a significantly negative relationship between job satisfaction and work-related burnout, r (306)=-.638, P<0.001. Regression explained 42% of variance in job satisfaction, and showed that burnout (β=-.62) and years on the job (β=.15) were significant predictors of job satisfaction (R=0.64; F [5, 277]=40.28, P<.001).

The results demonstrate that family medicine residency coordinators are generally satisfied with their work and reported moderate to high degree of burnout rates.