Prevalence of Occupational Burnout among Resident Doctors at a Tertiary Care Centre in Kerala, India during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Burnout is a psychological syndrome resulting from a prolonged response to persistent job stress, characterised by overwhelming physical and mental exhaustion and a lack of accomplishment, which leads to decreased professional efficacy. With rising violence, medical errors and workplace demands, evaluating the prevalence of burnout and its associated factors has become increasingly important. Aim: To assess the prevalence of occupational burnout in resident doctors at a tertiary care centre in India during the pandemic era. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary healthcare institute in Central Kerala, India among 114 resident doctors. The survey consisted of three parts, including demographic data, a validated 19-item questionnaire known as The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), which contains questions on burnout divided into three scales—personal, workrelated and patient-related—and a checklist of possible factors contributing to burnout identified through an extensive literature search. The data was analysed using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0. Results: More than 75 residents (65.8%) experienced moderate burnout, with 51 (44.7%) reporting high personal burnout, 72 (63.2%) experiencing moderate work-related burnout, and 48 (42.1%) reporting moderate patient-related burnout. Feelings of loneliness, a lack of an adequate support system, discrimination or harassment in the workplace, specialties causing excessive workloads and a lack of confidence in dealing with patients correlated with work-related, patient-related, and total burnout (p-value <0.05). The pressure of malpractice suits was associated with high personal burnout (p-value=0.027). Additionally, workrelated responsibilities at home, lack of control, lengthy work hours and frequent call duties showed significant work-related burnout (p-value <0.05), while frequent call duties were linked to high patient-related burnout (p-value=0.036). Conclusion: The prevalence of burnout in various domains— personal, work-related and patient-related—was found to be substantial, with approximately 65.8% of respondents reporting moderate total burnout. Various factors such as negative life events, work hours, experience, lack of an adequate support system, frequent call duties, patient deaths, discrimination faced in the workplace and many others were identified in this study.