Increased professionalization and lower burnout scores were associated with structured residency training program: results of a cross sectional survey

ABSTRACT

The competence centre for Residency Training in Family Medicine Bavaria (CCRTB) was established to improve the quality of postgraduate medical education by offering training and mentoring programmes for residents, and by providing train-the-trainer and mentoring courses for supervisors. Beyond that, regional Residency Training Networks (RTN) on avoluntary basis were developed to facilitate structured and efficient clinical rotation programs. Primary aim was to investigate the burden of burnout and the development of professionalism among CCRTB-residencies within a cross-sectional study. Secondary aim was to evaluate differences between CCRTB-residents with and without participation in aregional RTN. Burnout was determined with the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), comprising the scales emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Ambulatory professionalization was evaluated using the German Professional Scale (Pro-D), comprising the scales professionalism towards the patient, towards other professionals, towards society, and towards oneself. Statistical significance of group differences was calculated by nonparametric tests. Multivariable linear regression modelling was performed to estimate the independent impact of professionalization and RTN participation on burnout scores. 347 CRRTB residents in ambulatory postgraduate training were invited, 212 (61.1%) participated, and 197 (92.9%) were included in our analyses. Lower emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and increased personal accomplishment was associated with increased professionalisation, which was significant for nearly all Pro-D scales (p ≤ 0.05). RTN residents showed higher professionalism towards the patient (p = 0.031), other professionals (p = 0.012), and towards the society (p = 0.007) than residents of unstructured programs, and higher levels of personal accomplishment (p < 0.05). Early and efficient professionalization might be akey to reduce burnout and to establish asatisfying career in family medicine. Train-the-trainer and mentoring concepts should be implemented regularly for the training of residents. Thus, increased engagement in medical didactics should be aprerequisite for accreditation as atraining practice for residents.

KEYWORDS:

• Family medicine
• burnout
• professionalization
• resident physicians
• vocational training

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the FMR for their time and efforts to participate in our survey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

M.O. and A.S. designed the study. M.O., A.H., and A.S. performed the analysis. All authors were involved in the interpretation of the data. M.O. and A.S. wrote the initial version of the manuscript. M.R., A.H., D.S., P.B., and J.G. revised it critically for important intellectual content. All authors reviewed the final manuscript.

Members of the Bavarian Competence Center for Residency Training (BCCRT) Network

Ildikó Gagyor, Jochen Gensichen, Thomas Kühlein, Marco Roos, Antonius Schneider, Dagmar Schneider, Anne Simmenroth

Availability of data and materials

The data of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.