Introduction: the burnout syndrome (BS) is common among physicians, affecting their behavior, personality and professional goals; thus deteriorating the quality of their performance.
Objective: to determine the BS prevalence among physicians affiliated to a tertiary care hospital and its associated risk factors.
Material and methods: The study was conducted through a cross-sectional design. The sampling was nonprobabilistic. Participating physicians were interviewed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Beck's depression inventory. The analysis included ascertainment of the BS prevalence and use of chi(2) and logistic regression analysis. The local Internal Review Board and the Ethics Committee approved the project and all participants gave their informed consent.
Results: 166 physicians participated; the average age was 42 years, most were men. The response rate was 87.4 %. The prevalence of depression with more than 10 points in the Beck inventory was 18.6 % (95 % CI: 12-24). Depression in the last two years was 38.6%; the prevalence of BS was 26%; 15. 2 % scored above 27 in emotional exhaustion and 19.3 % scored more than 10 points in depersonalization. The risk of being depressed due to BS was five times higher (OR 5.163; 95 % CI 2.130-12.5). Working in the night shift, living without a permanent couple and being depressed were the main risk factors for BS.
Conclusions: BS is common among physicians and is associated with organizational and personal variables.