The following information was submitted:
Transactions: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of COMMUNICATIONS
Transactions ID Number: 20-586
Full Name: Susanne Fuchs
Position: Ph.D. Candidate
Age: ON
Sex: Female
Address: Hermann-von-Gilmstrasse 14a, A-6130 Schwaz
Country: AUSTRIA
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E-mail address: susanne.a.fuchs@gmx.at
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Title of the Paper: Physician Burnout in General Practitioners. Reflections upon Prevention and Treatment
Authors as they appear in the Paper: Susanne Fuchs, Elke Mesenholl-Strehler, P.C. Endler
Email addresses of all the authors: susanne.a.fuchs@gmx.at; college@inter-uni.net
Number of paper pages: 8
Abstract: Abstract--Austrian general practitioners in the medical profession were the subject of a survey based upon the Maslach Burnout Inventory and supplementary items (Tirol, 95 respondents). The term "burnout" refers to emotional and physical exhaustion, apathy, cynicism, a reduced sense of work satisfaction and social withdrawal, which – apart from internal factors – may be caused by work overload, a lack of "control" options, i.e. self-determination, inadequate financial compensation, a breakdown of social community, absence of fairness or conflicting values. The boundary between the concepts of burnout and depression is hard to demarcate. The former originated in the field of psychoanalysis but was subsequently expanded through insights from sociology. More than one third (35.8%) of respondents considered themselves to be at risk for burnout, with 27.2% showing elevated values for emotional exhaustion, 3.2% for depersonalisation and 10.0% for cynicism. The average va!
lues lay outside of the range which might warrant therapeutic intervention, however. The study did not reveal any noteworthy correlations based upon either age or gender (p > 0.05). Medical professionals licensed under the national health insurance plan tended to evidence higher degrees of burnout than did professionals practicing outside this framework ("physicians of choice"), as did those practicing in smaller communities. Availment of supervision services and participation in depth-psychologically oriented Balint groups had a favourable effect on the degree of burnout (10% lower values for cynicism, p < 0.01; - 10%; 6.5% higher values for personal accomplishment, p < 0.01). The results were compared with other studies about general practitioners and studies about other occupational groups. Specifics of physician burnout are presented and discussed including various prevention measures and treatment. It seems necessary to facilitate and implement further study, using st!
andardized as well as larger sample sizes. In order to find sustainabl
e methods to fight burnout, long-term surveys are considered to be indispensable. This article is based on an initial study report published in German in the Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift [1]. The authors thank the WMW for their permission to publish the present expanded version of this report. The research work was carried out at the Interuniversity College Graz, Castle of Seggau, Austria within the framework of a study program focusing on group analysis [2,3].
Keywords: Burnout, Stress, Depression, General practitioner, Prevention, Treatment
EXTENSION of the file: .doc
Special (Invited) Session: Burnout in established general practitioners. The significance of Supervision.
Organizer of the Session: 650-724
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