Objective:

To determine the prevalence of burnout syndrome and the associated variables in medical specialists in Mexico.

Methods:

Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study, by means of a census of 540 medical specialists from three Regional Hospitals. Using their identification card and self-administered Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services questionnaire, descriptive statistics and inferential analysis were performed using SPSS 15.0 and Epi-infoV6.1.

Results:

There was a 90.0% response in the specialists studied. Burnout was detected in 45.9%. There were significant differences in variables: being female; under 40 years of age; without a stable partner, and less than 15 years together; a working couple; childless; clinical specialty; less than 10 years of professional and current employment, and accumulated work day. A negative correlation was found in burnout with emotional exhaustion, and with depersonalisation. It was positive with a lack of personal fulfilment at work.

Conclusions:

Burnout is common (45.9%) in specialist physicians. The average levels of the subscales are close to normal. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation behave inversely proportional to the total score of the syndrome, and directly proportional to the lack of personal fulfilment in the work with burnout.

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