Exploring Associations Between Stressors and Burnout in Trainee Doctors During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the UK

Objective: The authors examined associations between stressors and burnout in trainee doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: An anonymous online questionnaire including 42 questions on general and pandemic-specific stressors, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Health Services Survey (MBI-HSS), was sent to 1000 randomly selected trainee doctors in North-West England. Main outcomes were burnout scores that were stratified into Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalisation (DP), and reduced Personal Accomplishment (PA) and associations between stressors and burnout using stepwise regression analysis.

Results: A total of 362 complete responses were received giving a response rate of 37%. Mean scores for EE, DP, and PA derived from the MBI-HSS were 27.7, 9.8, and 34.3 respectively. Twenty-three stressors were found to be associated with burnout dimensions. "Increase in workload and hours due to COVID-19," "Poor leadership and management in the National Health Service," and "Not feeling valued" were found to have strong associations with burnout dimensions. Only "Not confident in own abilities" was found to be associated with all burnout dimensions.

Conclusions: Associations with burnout were found to be identified in a range of work, pandemic, and non-work-related stressors, supporting the need for multi-level interventions to mitigate burnout.