Burnout syndrome and socioeconomic level of resident doctors in public hospitals in Maracay, Venezuela

Introduction: Burnout syndrome is an adaptive psychological disorder, a consequence of chronic work stress. It commonly affects health professionals since, from the beginning of their careers, they face a series of stressors specific to their practice, which could be intensified due to the socioeconomic situation that Venezuela is going through. Consequently, the objective of the present research was to determine the prevalence of Burnout syndrome and the relationship with the socioeconomic level of general surgery residents from two public hospitals in Maracay, Venezuela, during the year 2023. Materials and Methods: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational design was carried out. The sample consisted of general surgery residents from two public hospitals. For data collection, the standardized Maslach Burnout Inventory and Graffar-Méndez Castellano questionnaires were used. Results: 43 surgery residents participated, mostly female (51.16%), aged between 25 and 30 years (81.4%). The prevalence of the syndrome was 20.93%, with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization being the most frequent scales (79% and 70%, respectively). Regarding the socioeconomic stratum, the majority were upper middle class (64.47%). No association was found between the Burnout syndrome and the socioeconomic level. Conclusions: The majority of the surgical residents exhibited emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, were located in the upper and upper middle-class strata, and no association was found between these variables.