Table 3.
Burnout, QOL, and Career Satisfaction
| Distress | US Fellows (n = 1,345) |
US Oncologists (n = 1,117) |
P | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | ||
| Burnout indices* | |||||
| High emotional exhaustion† | 385 | 32.1 | 317 | 29.3 | .1459 |
| High depersonalization‡ | 193 | 16.1 | 144 | 13.4 | .0651 |
| Burnout§ | 409 | 34.1 | 367 | 33.7 | .8591 |
| QOL | |||||
| Overall QOL‖ | < .001 | ||||
| Mean | 6.8 | 7.3 | |||
| SD | 1.9 | 1.8 | |||
| Score < 6 | 268 | 22.4 | 161 | 14.6 | < .001 |
| Level of fatigue‖ | .0062 | ||||
| Mean | 5.5 | 5.8 | |||
| SD | 2.2 | 2.4 | |||
| Score < 6 | 583 | 48.8 | 506 | 46.0 | .1691 |
| Satisfied with WLB | 487 | 40.9 | 374 | 34.8 | .0031 |
| Career satisfaction | |||||
| Would become physician again (career choice) | 1,002 | 84.8 | 908 | 82.5 | .1503 |
| Would become oncologist again (specialty choice) | 1,056 | 89.4 | 877 | 80.5 | < .001 |
Abbreviations: MBI, Maslach Burnout Inventory; QOL, quality of life; SD, standard deviation; WLB, work-life balance.
*
As assessed using single-item measures for emotional exhaustion and depersonalization adapted from full MBI.
†
Individuals indicating symptoms of emotional exhaustion weekly or more often.
‡
Individuals indicating symptoms of depersonalization weekly or more often.
§
High score (≥ weekly) on emotional exhaustion and/or depersonalization scale.
‖
On 0- to 10-point Likert scale; higher scores favorable.