ROCHESTER, Minn. — Feelings of burnout persist among internal medicine residents despite significant cutbacks in duty hours for doctors-in-training in recent years, a national study by Mayo Clinic found.

A poor quality of life took a toll on performance: Stressors affecting well-being such as lack of a work-life balance contributed to lower test scores on a standardized exam. Residents reporting a quality of life ‘as bad as it could be’ and daily burnout symptoms attained mean scores nearly 3 percent lower than their counterparts with a good quality of life.

Heavy student debts made things even worse. Residents more than $200,000 in debt had mean scores 5 percent lower than debt-free colleagues, according to the study, published in the Sept. 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers surveyed and tested 16,394 residents in training in the United States in 2008-09, a number representing three-fourths of U.S. internal medicine residents. The study, overseen by Mayo Clinic general internist and biostatistician Colin West, M.D., Ph.D., co-director of the Mayo Department of Medicine Program on Physician Well-Being, reveals that 51.5 percent of residents reported burnout symptoms, 45.8 percent noted emotional exhaustion and 28.9 percent had feelings of depersonalization, reflected in cynicism and/or […]