title: Burnout among after-hours home visit doctors in Australia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  No previous study had ever looked at Burnout among medical practitioners involved in after-hours house calls (AHHC) in Australia. The growing popularity of AHHC and the high number of overseas-trained doctors involved in it make this a subject of both local and international significance. This study aims to assess the levels of burnout among Australian-based doctors involved in the service.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a quantitative, questionnaire-based survey of all the 300 doctors engaged in AHHC through the National Home Doctor Service (NHDS), Australia's largest home doctor-visit service providers. The study looked at experiences of the participants over the 12-months period from October 2013 to September 2014. The main outcome measure was the 22-item Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Results were presented as Means and Frequency Percentages.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 168 valid questionnaires out of 300 were returned, giving a 56.0 % response rate. The Total Maslach Mean Scores (MMS) obtained were 15.97 for Emotional Exhaustion (EE), 3.15 for Depersonalization (DP) and 40.39 for Personal Accomplishment (PA), signifying low-level burnouts in all three dimensions of the MBI. This pattern was equally reflected when the Frequency Percentages were analyzed. With this approach, a majority (56.8%) of the responses were low-level burnout on the EE dimension, while 23.4 and 19.8% respectively reported medium and high level burnouts. On the DP dimension, 87.6, 6.3 and 6.1% of the responses were low, moderate and high level burnouts respectively, while the PA dimension recorded 86.4, 9.6 and 4.0 % respectively. Given that on the MBI scale, perceived personal accomplishment has an inverse relationship with burnout, the low-level MMS finding on the PA dimension therefore indicate a commensurate high perception of personal accomplishments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Burnout levels are low while perceived achievements are high among doctors involved in after-hours house calls in Australia. The survey recommends that future studies be designed to explore the real reasons behind these findings.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Parklands Drive, Southport, QLD, 4215, Australia. c.ifediora@griffith.edu.au.
authors.forename: Chris O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Ifediora
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D039602:After-Hours Care; D001315:Australia; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology*; D003861:Depersonalization / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006792:House Calls; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires