[The burnout syndrome in medical residents working long periods].
OBJECTIVE
to evaluate the burnout syndrome in medical residents with working periods longer than 80 hours per week.


METHODS
an analytical cross-sectional study was conducted with medical residents working at Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social hospital in Veracruz, México. The residents were classified in two groups. One group working for > or = 80 h per week (study group, SG) and another group working < 80 h per week (comparison group, CG) were studied. Participants were selected by simple random sampling. The clinical evaluation instrument was the scale of Maslach burnout inventory.


RESULTS
143 medical residents were included in the sample (SG n = 72, CG n = 71); the average age was 29.6 +/- 2.5 years, 65 % were males and 51 % were unmarried. Their length of service was 2.2 +/- 0.7 years. The mean working time was 100.5 +/- 7.2 hours per week for the SG and 64.4 +/- 9.3 hours for the CG. Burnout syndrome was present in 46 (63.8 %) medical residents with long workdays (p = 0.002); it was observed more frequently in those residents that were on call 3 times per week (p = 0.002) and among surgery residents (p = 0.035).


CONCLUSIONS
working periods longer than 80 h per week are related to the appearance of burnout syndrome.
López-Morales
Arturo
A
Unidad Médica de Alta Especialidad 14, Centro Médico Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Veracruz, México. lomor71@hotmail.com
González-Velázquez
Felipe
F
Morales-Guzmán
Margarita Isabel
MI
Espinoza-Martínez
Carlos Ernesto
CE
D000328:Adult; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*