Assessment of burnout in medical undergraduate students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: To assess the prevalence of burnout symptoms among preclinical and clinical medical students studying at AlFaisal University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire on 276 medical students from Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study was approved by Alfaisal University research ethics committee. Chi-square test was used to identify statistically significant differences, and binary logistic regression was used to identify predictors of burnout. RESULTS: 276 entered into final data analysis with a mean age 20.62 ± 1.58, of whom 54% were males, and 46% were females. The overall burnout prevalence was 13.4%, of which PA was the most prevalent domain of burnout with 64.9%. Female gender was a significant predictor of EE and DP [OR = 4.34; 95% Cl 1.86–10.13; P-value 0.001] and [OR = 2.01; 95% Cl 1.07–3.79; P-value 0.030] respectively as per multivariate analysis for demographic characteristics. Regarding the total level of burnout, females (75.7%) had significantly higher levels of burnout compared to males (41.4%); (P-value < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Burnout is prevalent among medical student. Gender was found to exhibits effect on the burnout. Mutual proactive strategies and reactive coping mechanisms between the students and the universities are encouraged to prevent and reduce burnout among medical students.