Survey results of job status of residents in a standardized residency training program

BACKGROUND: The history of standardized residency training programs (SRTP) in China is not long. As one of the top medical colleges in China, Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) has the history and experience of the oldest SRTP in the country. Understanding the job status of PUMCH residents would be conducive to a better development of the national resident training in the future. METHODS: This study analyzed the demographic information, job burnout scale, working time, and job status of postgraduate year 1–3 residents that took part in the SRTP of the Department of Internal Medicine of PUMCH in August 2017. RESULTS: The survey data of 159 residents (including PUMCH residents, local-resident-trainees, and clinical postgraduates) were collected. The average working time was 11.38 ± 1.55 h per day and 83.28 ± 8.80 h per week. The average night shift frequency was 4.74 ± 0.59 days. There were 100 residents (62.2%) with symptoms of job burnout, which had a certain correlation with working time (p < 0.05). The self-evaluation of the clinical postgraduates about their working quality of life was lower than that of other residents (p < 0.05). There were various reasons for long working-time, great work pressure, and job burnout. Job burnout was independently associated with the average working time per day (OR = 2.35, 95% CI: 1.47–3.75, P < 0.001) and average length of duty period (OR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.26–1.84, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The job burnout of residents that took part in SRTP at the PUMCH could not be ignored, which had a certain correlation with work time and early training background. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-019-1718-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.