High Burden of Burnout on Rheumatology Practitioners

Burnout among physicians is common and has important implications. We assessed the extent of burnout among rheumatology practitioners and its associations.

One hundred twenty-eight attendees at the 2019 Rheumatology Winter Clinical Symposium were surveyed using the Maslach Burnout Index (MBI) and a demographics questionnaire. Scores for emotional exhaustion (EE) ≥ 27, depersonalization (DP) ≥ 10, and personal accomplishment (PA) ≤ 33 were considered positive for burnout. Data regarding practitioner characteristics including age, sex, years in practice, and other demographics of interest were also collected. These data were used to determine prevalence and interactions of interest between practitioner characteristics and the risk of burnout.

Of the 128 respondents, 50.8% demonstrated burnout in at least 1 MBI domain. Dissatisfaction with electronic health records was associated with a 2.86-times increased likelihood of burnout (OR 2.86, 95% CI 1.23-6.65, P = 0.015). Similar results were found for lack of exercise (OR 5.00, 95% CI 1.3-18.5, P = 0.016) and work hours > 60 per week (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.16-5.6, P = 0.019). Practitioners in group practice were 57% less likely to burn out (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.20-0.92, P = 0.029), as were those who spend > 20% of their time in personally satisfying work (OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.15-0.71, P = 0.005).

In what we believe to be one of the largest studies regarding burnout among rheumatology practitioners, we found a substantial prevalence of burnout, with 51% of all respondents meeting criteria in at least 1 domain defined by the MBI and 54% of physicians meeting these same criteria.