Table 3.
Descriptive statistics of defensive practice by burnout status
| Doctor category | Avoidance* | Hedging† | Any DMP‡ | ||
| Burnout status§ | Mean score | % elevated | Mean score | % elevated | % |
| Consultant | |||||
| No burnout (n=1002) | 1.05 | 53 (5%) | 3.95 | 67 (7%) | 101 (10%) |
| Burnout (n=460) | 2.14 | 72 (16%) | 7.79 | 97 (21%) | 130 (28%) |
| SAS | |||||
| No burnout (n=178) | 0.72 | 3 (2%) | 1.74 | 2 (1%) | 5 (3%) |
| Burnout (n=76) | 1.92 | 10 (13%) | 5.34 | 9 (12%) | 15 (20%) |
| Trainees | |||||
| No burnout (n=777) | 0.59 | 15 (2%) | 3.30 | 25 (3%) | 36 (5%) |
| Burnout (n=580) | 1.38 | 43 (7%) | 6.46 | 89 (15%) | 113 (19%) |
| All doctors | |||||
| No burnout (n=1957) | 0.84 | 71 (4%) | 3.49 | 94 (5%) | 142 (7%) |
| Burnout (n=1116) | 1.73 | 125 (11%) | 6.93 | 195 (17%) | 258 (23%) |
| OR¶ (95% CI ) | 3.34 (2.48 to 4.53) | 4.18 (3.24 to 5.43) | 3.84 (3.08 to 4.79) | ||
*Scores of ≥13 (range 0–36) are considered elevated and indicate avoidance behaviour.
†Scores of ≥5 (range 0–12) are considered elevated and indicate hedging behaviour.
‡Defined as elevated levels of avoidance and/or hedging behaviour.
§Burnout defined as an emotional exhaustion score ≥27 (range 0-54) and/or depersonalisation score ≥10 (range 0–30) in accordance with the Maslach Burnout Inventory.
¶ORs are based on univariable logistic regression with Firth bias correction.
DMP, Defensive Medical Practice; SAS, Specialty and Associate Specialist Doctors.