Summary

Burnout Self-Report Amongst Latinamerican Orthopedic Surgeons

Abstract

Introduction

There are no reports regarding the burnout index in Orthopaedic Surgeons through Latin America.

Objective

Assess the presence of burnout and other life quality aspects of this population.

Material And Methods

Cross-Sectional analytical study. An original design survey was used to identify the self-report on burnout and depressive symptoms, amongst other factors through multiple choices questions. Demographic, work-related, social, personal habits and mood-related variables were included. The survey was distributed by email to members of the Chilean Orthopaedic Surgery Society and the Latin American Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery, and Sports Medicine. Statistical analysis was conducted to determine the association between variables through the Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, and logistic regressions (p < 0.05).

Results

The survey’s response rate was 20% (n=358) out of 1779 links sent. The modal age range was less than 40 years (35.2%), and 93.9% were men. Of those surveyed, 50.3% reported a burnout episode more than once per year, 12.6% anhedonia, 10.6% a depressive mood more than half of the month or almost every day, and 61.2% of chronic fatigue. Statistical analysis showed a significant association between burnout and age under 40 years old (p = 0.042), a non-healthy diet (p = 0.002), career dissatisfaction (p < 0.001), depressive mood (p = 0.001), anhedonia (p < 0.001), fatigue (p < 0.001) and fear of lawsuits (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

More than half of the surveyed orthopaedic surgeons reported episodes of burnout more than once per year, and near 10% referred to have experienced weekly depressive symptoms. Fear of lawsuits, fatigue, and anhedonia were the variables of more significant impact over the self-report of burnout. Doing recreational activities and having a healthy diet represented protective factors.