Burnout levels among Portuguese family doctors: a nationwide survey.
OBJECTIVE
To characterise the prevalence of burnout syndrome in a sample of family doctors (FDs) working in the Portuguese National Health System.


METHODS
Cross-sectional survey.


METHODS
Primary healthcare centres from the 18 continental districts and two archipelagos of Portugal.


METHODS
The Portuguese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey was sent to 40 randomly selected healthcare centres and distributed to the FDs employed. Socio-demographic and work-related data were also collected. Participants were classified as having high, average or low levels of emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalisation (DP) and personal accomplishment (PA) dimensions of burnout.


RESULTS
371 questionnaires were sent, of which 153 (83 women, age range 29-64 years; response rate 41%) returned. One-quarter (25.3%, 95% CI 18.6% to 33.1%) of FDs scored high for EE, 16.2% (10.7% to 23.2%) for DP and 16.7% (11.1% to 23.6%) for lack of PA. On multivariate analysis, being married, of older age, having many years of practice or working in a personalised healthcare unit tended to be associated with increased burnout components. Men tended to present higher EE and DP but lower lack of PA than women. Finally, the prevalence (95% CI) of burnout ranged between 4.1% (1.5% to 8.6%) and 32.4% (25.0% to 40.6%), depending on the definition used.


CONCLUSIONS
High burnout is relatively common among Portuguese FDs. Burnout relief measures should be developed in order to prevent a further increase of burnout syndrome among Portuguese FDs.
Medical Faculty of Lisbon, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
Gisela
G
Marcelino
João Melich
JM
Cerveira
Inês
I
Carvalho
João Azeredo
JA
Costa
Marta
M
Lopes
Nelson Encarnação
NE
Calado
Pedro
P
Marques-Vidal