Keywords
Abstract
Background: Burnout Syndrome occurs as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors at work. Among the most predisposed population, with a high hourly and emotional workload, are health professionals, including anesthesiologists. Objective: To characterize a group of anesthesiologists from the Midwest of Brazil and to identify signs of Burnout in this population. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional prevalence study, carried out through the online application of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Service Survey (MBI-HSS) questionnaire with subsequent tabulation and statistical analysis. Results: The study sample consisted of 89 anesthesiologists (81 men and 8 women, age 43.5 ± 10.2 years), 51 of them (57.3% of the sample) had 1 or more significant signs of burnout. High levels of emotional exhaustion were found in 40 anesthesiologists (44.9% of the sample), depersonalization in 25 anesthesiologists (28.1% of the sample) and low levels of personal fulfillment in 22 anesthesiologists (24.7% of the sample). In addition, it was possible to find an association between the highest weekly workload and the highest prevalence of Burnout. Conclusion: Alarming rates of Burnout were found among the studied anesthesiologists. These results can help anesthesiologists, managers and administrators to develop measures that can minimize such prevalence, its causes and repercussions.