Ameliorating Work Burnout and Medical Residents

Anxiety, Burnout, Professional, Depression, Distress, Stress

Prior research has demonstrated that during residency years, in particular training to obtain a medical specialty, work burnout is a very prevalent problem. Work burnout is defined as a syndrome of dysfunction in three domains, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment. (Maslach et. al., 1981). Often, burnout has been associated with poor sleep quality and negative affectivity, such as depression and anxiety. In fact, our preliminary data demonstrate that burnout in medical residents affects sleep quality, and increases negative emotions. Strikingly, burnout in medical residents negatively impacts working performance as well as patient-physician interactions, and hence may affect the quality of health care. However, lacking are studies aimed at understating how work burnout affects cognitive performance and decision making in medical residents. The proposed study will provide essential groundwork in demonstrating the link between burnout and impaired cognitive performance. In addition, the proposed study will demonstrate feasibility for a future trial to test whether an intervention, emWave, integrating a computer based stress management (resilience training), can have a positive impact on residents with high burnout symptoms. The amelioration of psychological risk factors in medical residents may lead to improved physician-patient relationships in the service of improved quality of care.

Background: Burnout during residency years, in particular training to obtain a medical specialty, has been well recognized. Often, burnout has been associated with poor sleep quality and negative affectivity, such as depression. However, aspects of positive emotion that have been linked to improved physical and mental health, such as trait forgiveness (TF), have been poorly explored. For instance, according to statistics, depression in residents is as high as twenty-five percent, while residents' suffering from depression with resident burnout (defined as an occupational related syndrome of emotional exhaustion and low sense of professional accomplishment) is as high as seventy-six percent. In fact, first-year residents, with a sense of high well-being, experience great level of burnout and depression by the end of their first year. ( www.aafp.org, Yi M.S. et al. , 2007 ; Shanafelt T.D. et al. ,2002 ; Richman J.A. et. al. , 1992) There are two specific aims my collaborators and I are focusing on in in this two-phase study: Specific Aim 1: To explore the impact of work burnout on cognitive performance and psychological functioning in medical residents. Mounting evidence points towards the conclusion that work burnout can have a negative effect on psychological functioning in medical residents. We will test the working hypothesis that work burnout will be associated with poor cognitive performance, poor sleep quality, and high negative affectivity. Our approach is to use self-reported cognitive impairment and cognitive performance tasks designed to measure three basic processes underlying executive control: (i) updating, (ii) inhibition, and (iii) switching. Negative affective symptoms will be measured using validated psychometric scales for depression (Beck Depressive Inventory; BDI), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; STAI), and anger (State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2; STAEI-2). Sleep quality will be assessed via the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Specific Aim 2 - To examine the impact of an 8-week computer based resilience training intervention on work burnout, cognitive performance, and affectivity in medical residents. Our approach will be to test the impact of this intervention through a SmartPhone (e.g Android Phone or Iphone) application, emWave software, which will be provided to all our subjects. emWave is a tool that reduces stress by allowing individuals to be less reactive, think clearly, and make good decisions, especially under pressure. Fifty medical residents with high burnout symptoms will be randomized to receive an 8-week intervention (INT; n=25) or sham control (CON; n=25).

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