Depersonalization in The Emergency Service: Frequency of Professional Burnout

Abstract

Introduction: "Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal fulfillment that can occur among individuals whose object of work is other people". Burnout syndrome is considered a mental health problem, with social and somatic repercussions. The objective was: to identify the group of workers most affected by Burnout in the Emergency Department. Material and methods. Observational, descriptive, cross-sectional and analytical study, carried out in the Emergency Department of the HGR No.1 Dr. Carlos Macgregor, Mexico City, from November 2019 to January 2020. The sample was simple randomized, with 139 subjects. In inferential statistics analysis was performed using Chi-square and Pearson's correlation; multiple linear regression model was performed, including depersonalization as a response variable. Results. The distribution of the cases was: severe burnout 2.88%, moderate burnout 5.76%, mild burnout 16.55%. The work group most affected by burnout syndrome was the residents. There is no relationship between gender and burnout, the correlation between hours worked per week and depersonalization was moderate (r = 0.2788, p 0.001), there is a negative correlation between age and depersonalization scale (r = -0.268, p 0.002), from the linear regression model it stands out that the days off per week are inversely proportional to depersonalization with a variance of 3.93% of the result. Conclusions: There is a statistically significant association between the greater number of hours worked per week, fewer days of rest, less seniority, mixed work shifts and occupation with the presence of burnout, being considered predisposing factors for the development of the syndrome. The regression model is valid, so that the variables included have a direct association with the presence of the disease.