Frequency of Burnout among General Practitioners of Kerman City, 2008

Abstract

Background & Aims: Excessive stress in addition to causing physical and psychological problems in General Practitioners (GPs), can lead to decreased quality of patient care. This research aimed to find the frequency of burnout in general practitioners of Kerman city. Methods: This descriptive analytic study was carried out on 150 GPS in Kerman city in 2009. Data gathering was done by Maslach questionnaire. Data analysis was done by using t test, ANOVA, and Chisquare or Fisher test. Results: In whole, 94.7% of the participants had high level of depersonalization (DP), 27.3% showed medium to high range of emotional exhaustion (EE) and 73. 7% reported medium to high range of personal accomplishment (PA). There were higher levels of EE and DP among male GPs (P<0.05). Marital status and work experience had no significant relationships with the level of burnout. DP and EE were seen more in those working in the hospital (P<0.05). Conclusion: There's a high frequency of burnout syndrome in Kerman general practitioners, particularly on DP subscale. Quick interventions in health policy in order to find the related factors, control and prevent this issue are highly required.