article · BMC Medical Education
A cross-sectional study evaluated the prevalence and contributing factors of burnout among 144 medical students at Debre Berhan University in Ethiopia using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey. The findings revealed that 34.0 percent of participating students experienced burnout symptoms. Looking at specific burnout domains, 61.8 percent of students exhibited high emotional exhaustion, 47.9 percent scored high for depersonalisation, and 59.7 percent recorded low personal accomplishment. Analysis showed that dissatisfaction with practice lecturers at hospitals was strongly associated with increased odds of burnout. Conversely, having moderate social support and being satisfied with their medical education were associated with significantly lower odds of burnout. The study indicates that targeted individual and organisational interventions are needed, particularly focused on improving social support, educational satisfaction, and clinical teaching relationships.
Medical student burnout impairs personal well-being and can undermine academic progress and clinical training quality. Identifying specific local drivers, such as dissatisfaction with clinical supervisors and lack of social support, helps universities design targeted mental health and instructional interventions. These measures ensure students receive adequate pastoral care and supervision during demanding medical education programmes.
The abstract does not indicate a direct commercial application pathway, as it represents an observational institutional survey. However, the findings could inform educational administrators and student support services seeking evidence to design student welfare frameworks or faculty training programmes. Any practical implementation of these recommendations remains at an early concept stage and is primarily intended for academic policy rather than commercial deployment.
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BACKGROUND: Burnout, a measure of professional distress, is more common among medical professionals. About half of medical students have this problem. However, little is known about the burnout status of medical students in Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of burnout among medical students of Debre Berhan University (DBU). METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected 151 medical students of DBU. Burnout was assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS). Participants were reported as having burnout if they scored ≥27 on Emotional Exhaustion (EE), ≥13 on Depersonalization (DP) sub-scales, and ≤ 31 on Personal Accomplishment (PA) sub-scale of the MBI-HSS. EpiData version 3.1 was used for data entry while SPSS version 20 and STATA version 13 for windows were used for data analysis. Both univariable and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were conducted. The degree of association between variables was assessed using odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) at two-tailed p-value of < 0.05. RESULT: Of 144 medical students took part, 34.0% had symptoms of burnout. Regarding domains of burnout, 61.8% scored high on EE, 47.9% scored high on DP and 59.7% scored low on PA. Dissatisfaction with practice lecturer (AOR = 3.8, 95% CI (1.3, 11.6)), moderate social support (AOR = 0.2, 95% CI (0.1, 0.8)), and satisfaction with their education (AOR = 0.1 95% CI (0.0, 0.7)) were associated with burnout. CONCLUSION: More than one-third of medical students at DBU had burnout. Individual and organizational level interventions targeting students who had poor social support, dissatisfied by their lecturer at the hospitals and their education are recommended.
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DOI: 10.1186/s12909-019-1864-8
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