Medical Student and Physician Burnout in the Gulf Region: A Systematic Review

Background: Physician burnout is highly prevalent throughout medical education, training and practice, and substantially comprises the personal and professional well-being of those affected. This report is the first to comprehensively review published studies on physician burnout coming from the Gulf Region, examining the manner in which burnout is diagnosed, prevalence rates, and unique risk factors. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review on studies of burnout among medical students, residents, general physicians, specialist physicians and consultant physicians in Arab Gulf countries (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Kingdom of Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen and Iraq). Results: Our results demonstrate the increased recognition of, and interest in, physician burnout in the Gulf Region. For the most part, our findings parallel reports from other regions around the world. While there is great variability in the reported rates of burnout, at least in part to the different ways burnout is measure and defined, most studies of medical student, resident and attending-level physicians report burnout rates of between 30-50% in each cohort. Findings related to risk factors are inconsistent. Some reports suggest that working in the same center for long time, time on-call, shift work, tests/examinations, unfair assessment from superiors, lack of support from superiors, work demands affecting personal/home life, less satisfaction with career, less satisfaction with income, disorganized patient flow to clinics, patient pressure and violence, more paper work, less cooperative colleagues and job insecurity all may be related to burnout. Personal factors like having chronic disease, taking psychotropic drugs, smoking, sleeping less than 6 hours, suffering from sleep deprivation, back pain or having social problems also are associated with burnout, while participating in sports and having hobbies seem protective. Paralleling reports from other regions of the globe, burnout in the Gulf Region is associated with physical, psychological and occupational disturbances. Conclusions: This systematic review of burnout in the Gulf Region confirms the universality of physican burnout regardless of age, gender, race, geography, religion, cultural background or positions in the medical job hierarchy, and the critical need to find effective preventative strategies.