Burnout reduction in medical education: An intervention

OBJECTIVES: Burnout, a marker of professional distress prevalent among residents and physicians, has been speculated to originate in medical school. Little is known about burnout in medical students. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of a “Stress Management” elective course on first and second year medical students and to assess the sustainability of any noted improvement.

METHODS: Study was conducted in November 2006-December 2007. A total of 264 first and second year medical students (41 intervention – 223 control) participated to the study. A new elective course entitled “Stress Management” was offered to first and second year medical students. It was based on a course (fourteen hours) developed by medical education department. Enrolled students were surveyed on the first day (time 1) of the elective course and again a year later (time 2). Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was used to assess the burnout status. There are three subscscales on the MBI: 1. Emotional Exhaustion(EE), 2. Depersonalization(D), and 3. Personal Accomplishment(PA). Data were analyzed by destrictive statistics, and student’s  t test.

RESULTS: Of the medical students, 155 (58.7%) were male, 262 (99.2%) were single. Three subscales of the MBI was not different in the control and intervention group before the training. The average points of subscscales were EE:12.0±4.7, D:3.6±2.5, PA:11.4±3.6 in the intervention group. The average points of subscscales were EE:12.3±5.4, D:4.3±2.7, PA:12.0±3.8 in the control group.

Emotional Exhaustion point of the intervention group decreased after the training. The average point of subscscales were EE:12.0±4.5, D:4.4±2.8, PA:13.2±4.5 in the intervention group. The average point of subscscales were EE:14.4±5.6, D:4.9±3.1, PA:12.5±3.7 in the control group.

Regarding this results stress management training based on adult learning principles is effective on medical students to reducing burnout.