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Background:
Burnout is a
worrying problem in
the medical
profession and has
proven to be highly
prevalent in all the
care settings and
specialty areas in
which it has been
studied. We applied
2 widely used
questionnaires to
analyze the working
conditions of
Spanish allergists
in terms of quality
of professional life
and degree of
burnout perceived.
Methods:
Participants
completed 2
questionnaires: the
22-item Maslach
scale, a structured
questionnaire
covering different
aspects of the
feelings and
attitudes of
professionals toward
their work and
patients; and the
Spanish Quality of
Professional Life
Questionnaire
(CPV-35), a 35-item
questionnaire
evaluating job
satisfaction and
perceived quality of
life at work.
Results: We
received 404
questionnaires from
throughout Spain.
The main sources of
motivation were
better pay (94.4%),
more available
resources/technology
(85.1%), access to
research activities
(81%), and promotion
in ones
professional career
(80.1%). Analysis of
the scores from the
Maslach scale
revealed that
two-thirds of the
allergists
interviewed
experienced medium
and high levels of
negative burnout
(67.9% and 66.2%,
respectively, for
emotional exhaustion
and
depersonalization).
This situation was
in part compensated
for by the fact that
a slightly lower
proportion of the
group (59.2%)
obtained very high
scores on personal
accomplishment in
their work. Analysis
of the scores from
the CPV-35
questionnaire
revealed 3
complementary
aspects of job
satisfaction:
perceptions of the
workload borne
(5.8), management
support available to
cope with daily
patient workload
(5.6), and levels of
intrinsic motivation
for work (7.7),
which was the
highest value. The
score for the item
summarizing
self-perceived
overall quality of
working life was
acceptable (6.4).
Conclusion:
Promoting intrinsic
motivation of
Spanish allergists
using the motivating
factors identified
in this study could
protect against
professional
burnout.
Key words:
Allergology. Spain.
Burnout. Work
satisfaction.
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