The effects of physician burnout extend beyond the individual to potentially impact quality of care, patient safety, and healthcare efficiency. Researchers used a 2019 survey of physicians in Saxony, Germany, to investigate burnout in a subsample of 231 hospital-based surgeons. The study found that 4.8% of surgeons exhibited burnout, as defined by the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, while another 45.9% showed some burnout symptoms (the remaining 49.4% had no symptoms of burnout). Burnout was positively associated with health complaints, inability to recover, and a lack of job-based fulfillment. It was negatively associated with work-life balance and a desire to remain in the job. The findings demonstrate that burnout is a serious problem for surgeons, and that interventions to prevent it should begin early in a surgeon’s career.
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