The prevalence of burnout syndrome among resident physicians in Syria

Burnout syndrome is a work-related chronic stress that is described as emotional exhaustion, a decreased sense of personal accomplishment, and depersonalization. it has been considered an important problem especially among workers in the health sector.

The aim of this research was to study the prevalence of burnout among Syrian residents during the Syrian crisis, which started 9 years ago, and to assess the factors related to burnout syndrome.

A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the levels of burnout syndrome; data were collected from residents doing their residency in 12 different hospitals spread over 8 governorates in Syria. A web-based Arabic version of Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire was used. The final sample size was 3350 residents from different specialties. SPSS V.22 was used to analyses the data using descriptive and inferential statistics.

(93.75%) had a high level in at least one of the three domains of the burnout index, and (19.3%) of the residents had a high level of burnout in all three domains. Significant relation was found between gender, age group and affiliated authority variables and the levels of burnout. However no significant relation was found between burnout and the specialties or geographic variables. Males, residents in Ministry of Defense, and emergency medicine residents had the highest levels of burnout.

High levels of burnout was found among residents during the Syrian crisis in comparison with other studies, which highlights the role of the current situation in raising workload on the Syrian residents.