Burnout and training satisfaction of medical residents in Greece: will the European Work Time Directive make a difference?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of burnout in Greek medical residents, investigate its relationship with training satisfaction during residency and survey Greek medical residents' opinion towards the European Work Time Directive (EWTD).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A Multi-centre, cross-sectional survey of Greek residents was performed. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was used to measure burnout, which was defined as high emotional exhaustion, combined with high depersonalization or low personal accomplishment. In addition, seven questions were designed for this study to evaluate self-reported resident training satisfaction and three questions queried residents' opinion on the EWTD and its effects on their personal and social life as well as their medical training. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate statistical models were used for the evaluation of data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Out of 311 respondents (77.8% response rate), 154 (49.5%) met burnout criteria and 99 (31.8%) indicated burnout on all three subscale scores. The number of residents that were dissatisfied with the overall quality of their residency training were 113 individuals (36.3%). Only 32 residents (10.3%) believed that the EWTD implementation will not have any beneficial effects for them.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Both burnout and training dissatisfaction were common among Greek residents. Systemic interventions are thus required within the Greek health system, aimed at reducing resident impairment due to burnout and at improving their educational and professional perspectives. Although residents' opinion on the EWTD was not associated with burnout levels, the EWTD was found to be predominantly supported and anticipated by Greek residents and should be implemented to alleviate their workload and stress.</p

Greek medical students&apos; career choices indicate strong tendency towards specialization and training abroad

The aim of the study was to investigate the career choices, location preferences and criteria among medical students in Greece. We applied a questionnaire-based analysis using a sample of 591 students of four out of seven Greek Medical Schools. The sample included students of all academic years. The vast majority of students wish to specialize (97.6%), while general practice gathered a very low percentage (1.7%). The scientific challenge (61.4%) and interaction with patients (60.6%) seem to be the major influencing factors for most of the students’ specialty preferences, whilst less common variables influencing career choice are the high demand/supply ratio for certain health services (40.4%), the income potential (31.4%), the active tempo (26.2%) and prestige (15%). 70.3% of those asked consider the possibility of specializing abroad. The low concern of Greek medical students for general practice reveals today’s drastic deficiency in Greek primary health care. Such a situation will escalate, unless targeted strategies to produce more general practitioners are adopted. Furthermore, the results reflect a lower education and organizing level urging students to specialize abroad. The National Health System (NHS) should be reformed towards a rationalistic distribution of the medical specialties and medical workforce. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved