EC Paediatrics

Background and Aim: Physician burnout is a well-recognized crisis, worsened recently by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is recommended that organizations regularly measure burnout and implement mitigating strategies. Personal resilience is commonly cited as a factor that moderates burnout. The aim of this study was to measure burnout and resilience in physician educators at a pediatric academic hospital, and identify predictors of burnout and its various categories.

Methods: A survey that included demographic questions, Brief Resilience Scale and Maslach Burnout Inventory was administered online. 74 physician educators at Sidra Medicine in Qatar completed the survey between June-July 2021. The results were collected by a third party to maintain anonymity.

Results: The response rate was 42%. The overall rate of burnout was 7%. Faculty with higher personal resilience were more likely to feel ‘Engaged,’ and those with access to a faculty development program within the department were less likely to report ‘Emotional Exhaustion’.

Conclusion: Higher resilience is associated with engagement at work. Personal and organizational strategies that promote physician resilience may reduce the risk of burnout amongst physician educators.

Keywords: Burnout; Resilience; Faculty Development; Wellness; Physician Educators

1. Schaufeli WB., et al. “Burnout: 35 years of research and practice”. Career Development International3 (2009): 204-220.
2. Dewa CS., et al. “An estimate of the cost of burnout on early retirement and reduction in clinical hours of practicing physicians in Canada”. BMC Health Services Research1 (2014): 254.
3. Lancet T. “Physician burnout: A global crisis”. The Lancet10193 (10193): 93.
4. Conti C., et al. “Burnout Status of Italian Healthcare Workers during the First COVID-19 Pandemic Peak Period”. Healthcare5 (2021): 510.
5. Duarte I., et al. “Burnout among Portuguese healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic”. BMC Public Health1 (2020): 1885.
6. Raudenská J., et al. “Occupational burnout syndrome and post-traumatic stress among healthcare professionals during the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic”. Best Practice and Research. Clinical Anaesthesiology3 (2020): 553-560.
7. De Golia SG., et al. “Faculty Development for Teaching Faculty in Psychiatry: Where We Are and What We Need”. Academic Psychiatry2 (2019): 184-190.
8. West CP., et al. “Physician burnout: Contributors, consequences and solutions”. Journal of Internal Medicine6 (2018): 516-529.
9. Shanafelt TD and Noseworthy JH. “Executive Leadership and Physician Well-being”. Mayo Clinic Proceedings1 (2017): 129-146.
10. Swensen S., et al. “Physician-Organization Collaboration Reduces Physician Burnout and Promotes Engagement: The Mayo Clinic Experience”. Journal of Healthcare Management2 (2016): 105-127.
11. West CP., et al. “Interventions to prevent and reduce physician burnout: A systematic review and meta-analysis”. The Lancet10057 (2016): 2272-2281.
12. ACGME “AWARE” wellbeing resources. (n.d.) (2022).
13. Pollack J and Pollack R. “Using Kotter’s Eight Stage Process to Manage an Organisational Change Program: Presentation and Practice”. Systemic Practice and Action Research1 (2015): 51-66.
14. Maslach C and Jackson SE. “The measurement of experienced burnout”. Journal of Organizational Behavior2 (1981): 99-113.
15. Smith BW., et al. “The brief resilience scale: Assessing the ability to bounce back”. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine3 (2008): 194-200.
16. Cooke GP., et al. “A survey of resilience, burnout, and tolerance of uncertainty in Australian general practice registrars”. BMC Medical Education 13 (2013): 2.
17. Robertson HD., et al. “Resilience of primary healthcare professionals: A systematic review”. The British Journal of General Practice: The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners647 (2016): e423-e433.
18. Zwack J and Schweitzer J. “If every fifth physician is affected by burnout, what about the other four? Resilience strategies of experienced physicians”. Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges3 (2013): 382-389.
19. Epstein RM and Krasner MS. “Physician resilience: What it means, why it matters, and how to promote it”. Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges3 (2013): 301-303.
20. West CP., et al. “Resilience and Burnout Among Physicians and the General US Working Population”. JAMA Network Open7 (2020): e209385.
21. Yu F., et al. “Physical activity and personal factors associated with nurse resilience in intensive care units”. Journal of Clinical Nursing17-18 (2020): 3246-3262.
22. Fortney L., et al. “Abbreviated mindfulness intervention for job satisfaction, quality of life, and compassion in primary care clinicians: A pilot study”. Annals of Family Medicine5 (2013): 412-420.
23. Goodman MJ and Schorling JB. “A mindfulness course decreases burnout and improves well-being among healthcare providers”. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine2 (2012): 119-128.
24. Wald HS., et al. “Promoting resiliency for interprofessional faculty and senior medical students: Outcomes of a workshop using mind-body medicine and interactive reflective writing”. Medical Teacher5 (2016): 525-528.
25. Wallace JE., et al. “Physician wellness: A missing quality indicator”. Lancet9702 (2009): 1714-1721.
26. Brown GM., et al. “A National Faculty Development Needs Assessment in Emergency Medicine”. Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine 3 (2016): 161-182.
27. Heard JK., et al. “Assessing the needs of residency program directors to meet the ACGME general competencies”. Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges7 (2002): 750.
28. Stefan A., et al. “Faculty development in the age of competency-based medical education: A needs assessment of Canadian emergency medicine faculty and senior trainees”. Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine 4 (2019): 527-534.