Prevalence of burnout among operating room professionals in the district of Sousse

Background The Operating Room (OR) is a complex, stressful and potentially dangerous environment. In fact, the professionals practicing in these units suffer from a continuous exposure to multiple stressors that can, eventually, lead to a state of Burnout. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of burnout in the OR and to determine the possible associated factors with this syndrome. Methods This is a cross-sectional study that was carried out among surgeons and paramedical staff in twelve ORs in the teaching hospitals in Sousse, Tunisia, using an auto-administred questionnaire. It was spread over a 4-month period; from January 1st to April 30th 2018. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS 20.0. Also, all confidentiality and anonymity measures were respected. Results A total of 225 OR professionals participated with a response rate of 76.8%. The medical profession was represented by 46 surgeons and the female gender, overall, was predominant and accounted for 60.9% of the participants. Our study showed that the prevalence of burnout was very high (82.6%). Actually, more than half of our population (65.3%) had a high level of emotional exhaustion, 34.2% had a high level of depersonalization and 40.4% represented a high level of low self efficacy. In fact, several factors have been found to promote the occurrence of the burnout syndrome. Indeed, there was a link between burnout and dissatisfaction of work conditions (P = 0.001), high workload (P = 0.001) and altered relationship with the hierarchical superiors (P = 10-6). Conclusions In light of these results, the burnout syndrome is a reality in the ORs. It represents a public health problem whose consequences do not only affect the health of caregivers but, also, the quality of care provided. Thus, it is essential to plan awareness-raising and prevention actions to combat this phenomenon. Key messages A high prevalence of Burnout was recorded among operating rooms professionals. Dissatisfaction and an altered relationship with superiors were found to be associated with the occurrence of Burnout.