Professional Burnout among Doctors and Nurses Working in the Emergency and Anesthesia-Intensive Care Departments of Abidjan Hospitals

Introduction: “Burnout” or professional exhaustion syndrome is characterised by physical, emotional and mental exhaustion. The aim of this work was to determine the factors associated with the occurrence of this syndrome. Material and Methods: this was a prospective, cross-sectional and analytical study which took place over four months (September 2019 - December 2019) in the emergency departments, intensive care units and operating rooms of seven hospitals in Abidjan. All doctors and nurses working in these services were included. Data collection was carried out using a pre-established questionnaire based on the “Maslach Burnout Inventory” (MBI). The variables studied were: sociodemographic and professional characteristics, as well as MBI scores. All data were processed and analyzed using statistical software. Differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05. Results: we identified 188 participants. The average age was 41 years. The majority of respondents (78%) worked more than 40 hours per week. The prevalence of burnout was 60.1%. The factors associated with burnout were: male sex, age > 40 years, unmarried status, work experience < 20 years, nursing profession, more than 40 hours of work per week and professionals working in university hospitals and operating rooms. Conclusion: the factors associated to this syndrome are sociodemographic and professional.