Burnout Among Physicians of Specialties Dedicated to Liver Transplantation

Transpl Int. 2024 Nov 14:37:13738. doi: 10.3389/ti.2024.13738. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Burnout is increasingly relevant among healthcare professionals. The aim of this study is to describe the prevalence of burnout and other parameters of professional satisfaction among different specialists dedicated to Liver Transplantation (LT) in transplant teams. A working group from the Spanish Society of LT designed a survey with 39 questions evaluating the prevalence of parameters related to professional satisfaction, including burnout. It was distributed among 496 specialists dedicated to liver transplantation in Spanish transplant teams. Responders included surgeons (49%), hepatologists (27%), anesthesiologists (16%), intensivists (4%), and other specialties (4%). Among responders, 78% reported some degree of burnout. Moreover, 46% of responders did not see themselves working in transplantation in 5 years. The rates of burnout and dissatisfaction among anesthesiologists and surgeons were higher than other specialists. The highest levels of dissatisfaction were in economic remuneration and work-life balance. Being younger than 60 years old and non-head of department showed to be risk factors of burnout. In conclusion, the prevalence of burnout among LT physicians in Spain was notably high. Among the various specialties, anesthesiologists and surgeons exhibited the highest dissatisfaction rates. The results of this work may be of interest to healthcare management and planning.

Keywords: burnout; healthcare professionals; liver transplantation; physician; transplant teams.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anesthesiologists / psychology
  • Burnout, Professional* / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Job Satisfaction*
  • Liver Transplantation* / psychology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Physicians* / psychology
  • Prevalence
  • Spain / epidemiology
  • Surgeons / psychology
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Work-Life Balance

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was funded by Sociedad Española de Trasplante Hepático (SETH). No sponsor had a role in the study design, the data collection, the analysis and interpretation of data, the writing of the paper or the decision to submit the article for publication.