The relative importance of work-related psychosocial factors in physician burnout

Identifying the most significant risk factors for physician burnout can help to define the priority areas for burnout prevention. However, not much is known about the relative importance of these risk factors.

This study was aimed to examine the relative importance of multiple work-related psychosocial factors in predicting burnout dimensions among physicians.

In a cross-sectional sample of 2423 Finnish physicians, dominance analysis was used to estimate the proportionate contribution of psychosocial factors to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. The psychosocial factors included job demands (time pressure, patient-related stress, lack of support, stress related to information systems, work-family conflict) and job resources (job control, team climate, organizational justice).

Together, psychosocial factors explained 50% of the variance in emotional exhaustion, 24% in depersonalization and 11% in reduced professional efficacy. Time pressure was the most important predictor of emotional exhaustion (change in total variance explained ΔR2 = 45%), and patient-related stress was the most important predictor of both depersonalization (ΔR2 = 52%) and reduced professional accomplishment (ΔR2 = 23%). Stress related to information systems was the least important predictor of the burnout dimensions (ΔR2 = 1-2%).

Psychosocial factors in physicians' work are differently associated with the dimensions of burnout. Among the factors, the most significant correlates of burnout are job demands in the form of time pressure and patient-related stress.