Burnout Syndrome in medicine undergraduates of a university in Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

Burnout is defined as what ceased to function due to absolute lack of energy. Burnout syndrome is characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and poor professional achievement. Medical students are a group at risk for the development of this syndrome due to the pressure exerted by their social and family circle, from the decision to give a doctor's degree to medicine until the conclusion of the course. Objective: To describe the prevalence of Burnout Syndrome in medical students of the State University of Bahia (UNEB) and to identify if there are sociodemographic, academic and psychosocial variables associated with it. Method: cross-sectional descriptive, carried out with UNEB medical students from the 1st to the 8th semesters, applying a questionnaire for the sociodemographic, academic and psychosocial variables and the MBI-SS (Maslach Burnout Inventory / Student Survey). Results: The Syndrome had a prevalence of 19.6% in the sample, 35.4% had a high risk of developing the syndrome and 26.6% % low risk. Among the variables studied "having children", "having current occupation", and "thinking about giving up the course" had a positive association with statistical significance (p <0.05) with the development of Burnout Syndrome. Conclusion: there is a need to implement preventive and curative measures regarding the high level of emotional exhaustion, and the average rates of disbelief, which may lead to a reduction in the risk of developing Burnout Syndrome in these students.