Burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction among obstetrics and gynecology resident physicians in the Philippines: A cross-sectional study / Philippine Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

ABSTRACT

Introduction@#Physician burnout (BO) is an increasing global concern due to its rising prevalence and effect on patient care@*Objective@#This study determined the prevalence of BO, compassion fatigue (CF), and compassion satisfaction (CS), among residents of obstetrics and gynecology in the Philippines, and identified the factors associated with these@*Methods@#This was a cross‑sectional study, which used stratified random sampling. The strata comprised public and private hospitals that were subdivided into Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and National Capital Region. From these, 33 training hospitals were randomly selected, which served as clusters wherein all resident physicians of obstetrics and gynecology were invited to answer either an online or printed version of the Professional Quality of Life Scale Version 5 questionnaire@*Results@#Majority of the 311 participants included had average level of BO (n = 281, 90.4%), CF (n = 237, 76.2%), and CS (n = 213, 68.5%). CS was negatively correlated with burnout (r = −0.31, P < 0.001) and CF (r = −0.34, P < 0.001), whereas BO and CS were positively correlated (r = +0.48, P < 0.001). Type of institution, sleeping hours, and interrupted leaves were the common factors that yield significant differences in BO (P = 0.037, P < 0.001, and P < 0.001) and CF (P = 0.002, P = 0.043, and P = 0.005). Significant differences were observed in CS scores in terms of age (P = 0.016), marital status (P = 0.038), child dependents (P = 0.006), level of training (P = 0.005), and location and type of institution (P ≤ 0.001 and P = 0.003).@*Conclusion@#There is a need to develop active awareness of BO and CF among resident physicians to effect interventions at the individual and institutional level.