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Introduction: Emergency medicine (EM) is known to be a high-stress specialty. Work related stress and burnout have been reported to negatively impact physician-patient interactions, collaboration and ultimately overall physician mental and physical health. We sought to assess the rates of burnout among emergency physicians working at a single large Canadian tertiary care center and to identify higher risk groups. We hypothesized burnout rates to be uniformly high. Methods: We conducted a local cross-sectional study to assess burnout among adult and pediatric emergency physicians, fellows and residents at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). A total of 118 participants were invited to complete an anonymous online survey encompassing demographics, the validated MBI tool (Maslach Burnout Inventory) with additional questions aimed at identifying determinants of emergency physician burnout at LHSC. Each respondents three MBI scale scores for Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization and Personal Accomplishment were recorded with a possible range of 0-6. Descriptive statistics were calculated and relationships between risk factors (age, gender, years of practice, marital status, and credentials) and burnout scores were examined using t-tests, one-way ANOVAs, and/or regression analyses where appropriate. Results: To date the survey had a 50% (59/118) response rate. Of the 59 respondents 24 (40%) were female, the mean (SD) age was 40.6 years (10.5) and years of practice ranged from 1 to 35, with a mean of 13. Survey results indicated a high degree of burnout among LHSC EM physicians with a mean (SD) Emotional Exhaustion Score of 2.9 (1.3) and Depersonalization score of 2.4 (1.3), indicating that physicians felt burnt out from work between once a day to once a week. Inversely, the protective variable of Personal Accomplishment, with a score of 4.7 (0.9), indicated daily to weekly feelings of accomplishment. Female physicians (independent samples t-test, p=0.003) and those having fewer years of practice (linear regression, R2=0.188, p=0.04) were identified to have higher burnout. We did not identify any factors associated with Personal Accomplishment. Conclusion: Consistent with previous literature, LHSC emergency physicians were shown to be at risk for moderate to severe burnout. High risk groups identified included gender (female) and fewer years of practice. We did not identify any factors to be protective. Despite this, LHSC emergency physicians showed a high degree of personal accomplishment. While all physicians experience burnout, targeted interventions to newer female staff could have the highest benefit.
