title: Are ENT surgeons in the UK at risk of stress, psychological morbidities and burnout? A national questionnaire survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Work-related stress, psychological disorders and burnout are common occupational disorders affecting UK doctors. To date, there are no studies looking at these psychosocial morbidities amongst ENT surgeons worldwide.
  
  
  METHODS
  The General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) and abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory (aMBI) were incorporated into a questionnaire on occupational diseases amongst ENT surgeons and distributed to the entire membership of ENT-UK. The survey study also acquired demographic data on grade of respondent, years of experience in ENT and subspecialty interest.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We received 108 (8.1% response rate) appropriately filled GHQ-12 and 121 (9.0% response rate) aMBI questionnaires. 61 respondents (56.5%) on the GHQ-12 were at high risk of developing stress and psychological morbidity and 35 (28.9%) had high enough aMBI scores to suggested burnout. When comparing scores of both GHQ-12 and aMBI with grade of respondent, years of experience in ENT and subspecialty, statistical difference was only found on the risk of stress and psychiatric disorders amongst paediatric ENT surgeons (7 high risk vs 0 low risk, p = 0.02), however the number of these respondents was small (7 in total). Both questionnaires had been validated for use within our population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found high incidence rates of stress and psychological morbidity (56.5%) and a burnout prevalence rate of 28.9% amongst our responding cohort of UK Oto-rhino-laryngologists. No meaningful differences were found between stress, psychological morbidity and burnout with grade of ENT surgeon, years of experience in ENT and subspecialty within ENT.
authors.affiliation: Ipswich Hospital Trust, Heath Road, Ipswich IP4 5PD, England, UK. Electronic address: shivan5@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ananth
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vijendren
authors.affiliation: Ipswich Hospital Trust, Heath Road, Ipswich IP4 5PD, England, UK.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yung
authors.affiliation: Worcestershire Health and Care Trust, Worcester WR4 9RW, UK.
authors.forename: Uttam
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Shiralkar
mesh_terms: D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D000073397:Occupational Stress / Q000523:psychology*; D010036:Otolaryngology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D066231:Surgeons / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Burnout; ENT; Oto-rhino-laryngologists; Psychological disorders; Stress