Identifying burnout in young oncologists: The sooner the better

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Background: Professional burnout is an important issue for the healthcare systems with potentially relevant consequences in the quality of patient care. Young oncologists are a special risk population, due to high workload, academic pressure and other specific factors related to cancer care. Work life and lifestyle factors are related with burnout levels and may define specific interventions to reduce and prevent burnout. Methods: A survey based on the validated Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel (MBI-HSS MP) was conducted. Additional questions to explore work life and lifestyle factors were included. We studied potential burnout amongst young Spanish oncologists (residents and oncologist in the first 5 years of professional performance). Statistical analyses, including linear regression, were carried out to test the relations between overall burnout score and work and lifestyle factors. Results: We obtained 243 responses to the survey. The sample was representative in terms of age, sex, geographic region, professional profile (residents and young oncologists) and a homogeneous distribution per year of residence (final participation rate was of 26.6%). Regarding 5 Burnout profiles, 32.1% of the participants were classified as Ineffective, 25.1% as Burnout, 21% as Engaged, 17.3% as Overextended and 4.5% as Disengaged. Percentage of Burnout profile is higher in medical oncology residents (28.24%) than in young oncologists (19.79%). The highest percentage of burnout profile was observed in the second-year residents (35,71%) and gradually decreases, in parallel to an increase in the engaged profile. The multivariable linear regression analysis showed a significant correlation between not having a good work life balance and adequate vacation time and the burnout score. Conclusions: Burnout affects a significant number of young oncologists with significantly different profiles and differences across regions. Adapted interventions to the most frequent profiles and at different stages of the training and professional career may be necessary particularly at the early beginning. Actions towards achieving a better work and personal life balance and stress management could be effective. These results are the basis for the prospective part of our study that aims to design an intervention and to assess its efficacy in this population.