Chronic stress and coping among cardiac surgeons: a single center study.
BACKGROUND
Cardiac surgeons stress may impair their quality of life and professional practice.


OBJECTIVE
To assess perceived chronic stress and coping strategies among cardiac surgeons.


METHODS
Twenty-two cardiac surgeons answered two self-assessment questionnaires, the Trier Inventory for Chronic Stress and the German SGV for coping strategies.


RESULTS
Participants mean age was 40±14.1 years and 13 were male; eight were senior physicians and 14 were residents. Mean values for the Trier Inventory for Chronic Stress were within the normal range. Unexperienced physicians had significantly higher levels of dissatisfaction at work, lack of social recognition, and isolation (P<0.05). Coping strategies such as play down, distraction from situation, and substitutional satisfaction were also significantly more frequent among unexperienced surgeons. "Negative" stress-coping strategies occur more often in experienced than in younger colleagues (P=0.029). Female surgeons felt more exposed to overwork (P=0.04) and social stress (P=0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Cardiac surgeons show a tendency to high perception of chronic stress phenomena and vulnerability for negative coping strategies.
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Clinic Bogenhausen, Munich.
Kyriakos
K
Spiliopoulos
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Clinic Bogenhausen, Munich, Germany.
Laura
L
Gansera
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Clinic Bogenhausen, Munich, Germany.
Hans Christian
HC
Weiland
Institute for Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, Technical University Munich, Germany.
Tibor
T
Schuster
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Clinic Bogenhausen, Munich, Germany.
Walter
W
Eichinger
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Clinic Bogenhausen, Munich, Germany.
Brigitte
B
Gansera
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D011788:Quality of Life; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D066231:Surgeons / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires