Assessment of Burnout and Professional Fulfillment in Practicing Doctors and their Association with Self-Reported Medical Errors: A Hospital-Based Cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The well-being of health care workers is essential for providing good patient care. Burnout is an epidemic plaguing the healthcare system worldwide and its undesirable effects on healthcare workers as well as patients have been reported time and again.

Objectives: To measure the levels of burnout and professional fulfillment among practicing doctors and to determine any association of burnout and professional fulfillment with self-reported medical errors.

Materials and Methods: It is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Practicing doctors in Allied hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical University were included, while those in administration and Heads of Departments were excluded. The sample size was calculated by using the WHO calculator with a confidence interval of 95%. Convenience sampling was used. A self-structured, close-ended questionnaire validated by senior professors was used. The Maslach Burnout Inventory and Professional Fulfilment Index (PFI) were added to the questionnaire. Medical errors were assessed using a self-made scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. The significance level was set at P-Value <0.05.

Results: Most of the participants belonged to the age group of 25-35 years. Males made up 46.5% of the population while females were 53.5%. Most of the participants (69.7%) had a good level of professional fulfillment. A significant proportion of the participants (82.5%) experienced only a mild degree of burnout. Most of the participants (79.4%) rarely reported medical errors. Results showed a significant negative correlation between the professional fulfillment and burnout scores and a significant positive correlation between burnout scores and medical error reporting scores.

Conclusion: The majority of the participants had a good level of professional fulfillment and a mild degree of burnout. There was a significant positive correlation between medical errors and burnout among doctors of allied hospitals of RMU.

Keywords: Burn out, Medical Errors, Physicians, Self-Report