A Comparative Study of Burnout and Resilience in Clinical and NonClinical Postgraduates

Background: Burnout is a pervasive and debilitating state that results from an unsustainable period of overwhelming stress. Burnout in doctors can lead to reduced care of patients, increased medical errors, and poor health. Resilience refers to the capacity of psychophysiological systems to recover from challenging conditions and allow the organism to efficiently return to its health maintenance equilibrium. Aim: To assess the resilience and burnout and to compare the resilience and burnout between clinical and nonclinical postgraduates. Methodology: It is a cross sectional comparative study done in 142 medical postgraduates, between 25 and 35 years of age. 99 clinical postgraduates and 43 nonclinical postgraduates participated in the study. They were given the printed hard copies of the resilience (Connor Davidson resilience scale) and burnout (Copenhagen burnout inventory) scale. The mean scores of personal, work and client related burnout and total resilience score was compared between clinical and nonclinical postgraduates. Results: Among the 99 clinical postgraduates, the mean scores of personal, work and client related burnout are 49.28, 47.99 and 42.17 respectively. Among the 43 non clinical postgraduates, the mean scores of personal, work and client related burnout are 43.99, 35.66 and 26.66 respectively. The mean values of work and client related burnout are statistically significant while the mean values of personal burnout are not statistically significant. The mean value of resilience in clinical and non-clinical postgraduates are 61.43 and 60.74 respectively which are not statistically significant. There is a weak positive correlation between working hours and burnout. There is a weak negative correlation between sleeping hours and burnout. Conclusion: Our study showed that there was a higher prevalence of work and client related burnout in clinical postgraduates compared to nonclinical postgraduates, while there is no significant difference in prevalence of personal burnout. Also, there is no significant difference in resilience between the two groups. Furthermore, prospective, controlled studies are needed to investigate the risk factors for burnout and other mental health disorders among clinical doctors, as well as the effects of treatment.