Stress and Burnout Among Medical Students

Abstract

Background & Objective(s): Numerous studies have shown a high incidence of burnout in health care professionals as well as individuals whose activities are psychologically similar to the work of students. The study aimed to estimate the frequency of stress and burnout among medical students and to investigate the relationship between stress, burnout level, medical students’ characteristics and some health related behaviors. Methods: A Cross sectional study was carried out at Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt among 390 medical students. Data were collected using two validated instruments “Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale” & “Maslach Burnout Inventory Scale” Results: Nearly two thirds of the medical students 66.1% had high stress levels; the most prominent burn out subscale was depersonalization 75.6%. The main 3 reasons of stress among medical students were fear of hurting patients, students’ perception that their clinical practice is not enough, limited time for training. There was a highly statistically significant relationship between high stress levels, high burnout subscales, using hypnotics and smoking. Conclusion: Medical students are exposed to a great deal of stress & burnout symptoms that mainly result from their worry about their future career and late exposure to clinical training. The present study would recommend integration of clinical sciences with basic sciences in addition to social skills in the medical students’ curricula.