688 - Evaluating Burnout in Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physicians

Publication Number: 3665.688

Shaili Patel, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States; Michael Granovetter, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States; Ee Tein. Tay, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, United States

Background: Burnout, characterized by exhaustion, loss of purpose, and career dissatisfaction, is highly prevalent among Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) physicians due to the high-stress nature of caring for critically ill children. Previous studies have reported a burnout rate of 50% among PEM physicians using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Female physicians face added challenges such as gender bias and work-life balance contributing to higher burnout rates.

Objective: Our study aims to identify key stressors for PEM physicians and assess whether gender, years out of training, annual gross income, or type of primary practice site influences burnout.

Design/Methods: A single, online, cross-sectional, convenience sample survey was distributed to PEM physicians on the Brown Pediatric Emergency Medicine Listserv, a national online PEM community. The survey consisted of questions on demographics and stressors related to their personal definition of "burnout". Participants were also asked to fill out the Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire to determine burnout. The Wald statistical test was utilized to evaluate for statistically significant on years out of training, gender, income, and primary practice site on burnout.

Results: A total of 307 participants completed the survey (11.6% response rate; see Table 1 for demographic information). The top 6 stressors are listed in Figure 1. When asked if they subjectively felt a significant level of burnout from their work, 60% of respondents said "yes". It was found that attendings who were 6-10 years out from training were the most burnt out group. There is a statistically significant effect of years since training on burnout (p=0.04). Post hoc testing revealed that respondents who were 6-10 years out of training had a statistically significant greater probability of burnout when compared to each the 0-5 years (p=0.04) and the 15+ years (p=0.04) groups. However, we found no statistically significant effect of gender, primary practice site, and income on burnout (p≥0.05).

Conclusion(s): Our findings indicate that attendings who are 6-10 years out of training are significantly more burnt out than attendings with other levels of experience. Further investigation is required to determine the reason. There is no effect of gender, primary practice site, and annual gross income on the rates of burnout in PEM physicians.

Table 1
Demographics

Figure 1