Prevalence of burnout and its impact on self-reported patient care among primary health care physicians at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City in Riyadh region

BACKGROUND: Burnout is known worldwide as a work-related syndrome associated with physical illness and mental health problems. It has a significant impact on doctors’ health and patient care. AIM: To assess the prevalence of burnout, its associated risk factors, and its impact on self-reported patient care among the doctors of the Family Medicine Department in King Abdul-Aziz Medical City (KAMC), Riyadh. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 150 physicians. Data were collected using the 22-items Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to measure emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal achievement as well as questions about demographic factors, work characteristics, and impact of burnout on self-reported patient care. RESULTS: A total of 150 physicians responded to the questionnaire. In terms of high burnout, 32 doctors (21.3%) had emotional exhaustion, 57 doctors (38%) had depersonalization, and 41 doctors (27.3%) scored low for personal achievement. Staff physicians had high emotional exhaustion (27.8%, P = 0.028), family medicine residents, however, reported higher depersonalization and low personal achievement (42.9%, 45.7%, P = 0.675, P = 0.009, respectively). Being a staff physician, military, with long years in practice, working more than 8 hours per day, and covering ER shifts were strongly associated with a high level of burnout. High-level burnout demonstrated a statistically significant impact on patient care with suboptimal performance among the doctors of this study. CONCLUSION: Burnout seems to be a common problem in family medicine doctors at KAMC. It was associated with personal and workload indicators affecting their self-reported patient care significantly.