Persistence of burnout syndrome in internship students in hospitals of Lima, Peru (year 2018)

Abstract

Introduction: Burnout syndrome is a pathological disorder that persistently affects internship students in hospitals of Lima.

Objective: To determine the frequency of burnout syndrome in internship students who initiate-culminate the internship and determine their related factors.

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted with medical students of the last year (n = 165) between December 2017 and March 2018. The Maslach Burnout Inventory scale was used in Spanish.

Results: the frequency of burnout syndrome was 33% and 35% for internship of 2017 and 2018, respectively. About half of the internship students presented a high degree of Stress Psychological and a high depersonalization; being the most frequent burnout syndrome in the hospitals of the Ministry of Health (OR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1-4.6, p = 0.010). The internship reduces recreational activities by 3 times (OR: 3.2, 95% CI: 1.7-6.2, p = 0.0022) and produces poor sleep quality in the medical students of 2018 (OR: 5.3, 95% CI: 2.6-10.8, p <0.05). The rotations with the highest frequency of burnout syndrome were gynecology and pediatrics.

Conclusions: There is persistence of burnout syndrome in internship students compared to previous studies. Having less than 25 years of age, carrying out the internship in hospitals of the Ministry of Health and the difficulty to move to the hospital site were related to the burnout syndrome in internship students.