Relationship Between Faculty Characteristics and Emotional Exhaustion in a Large Academic Medical Center

We evaluated associations between emotional exhaustion (EE), a measure of burnout, among medical school faculty and: demographic and professional characteristics, workplace stressors, coping skills, resilience, sufficient personal time, and depressive symptoms. Respondents completed surveys in November 2017.

We conducted bivariate and multivariable logistic regression and recycled predictions models to estimate associations between characteristics and probability of EE.

Of 1401 respondents, 42% endorsed EE. Faculty with more clinical effort, more workplace stress, less resilience, less personal time, and more depressive symptoms reported statistically significantly higher probabilities of EE compared with their counterparts. Female sex, mid-career stage, and coping skills were no longer associated with EE, after accounting for stress, resilience, personal time, and depressive symptoms.

Coping skills may not mitigate physician EE when coupled with substantial time and mental health burdens.