Burnout syndrome among the staff of one surgery unit

Abstract

Burnout syndrome is a particular stress status that may occur in those persons giving services to others, and is characterized by three main aspects: emotional tiredness, depersonalization, and diminishing of the personal realization. This investigation was carried out to determine its presence in a surgery unit for being it a risk area. We carried out a descriptive, transversal study in 22 professionals (physicians and nurses), who answered Maslach burnout survey, measuring the three aspects of the syndrome; the results were related with age, sex, years of work, and marital status. Female sex predominated with 22 (70.3 %); 80 % of them had a professional experience of more than 10 years; the highest incidence was in the age group from 35 to 44 years old with 25 (83.3 %), predominating the married group with 22 (70.3 %). The highest tendency of suffering the syndrome was in: married, 35-to-44-years-old women with more than 10 years of professional life. There is no evidence of the presence of Burnout syndrome, but a big quantity of professionals presents the tendency of developing it.