Background and Goal of Study: Burnout syndrome corresponds to a state of exhaustion due to professional reasons. Healthcare professions are particularly affected, due to their physical and psychological demands. This study assessed burnout among perioperative professionals at the Centro Hospitalar de Leiria (including medical orderlies [MO], nurses and physicians).
Materials and Methods: For two months in 2016, an online questionnaire with the Standard Portuguese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Human Services Survey, along with sociodemographic and work-related variables.
Results and Discussion: Seventy-seven professionals participated in this study (15 MOs, 48 nurses and 14 physicians), with a mean age of 45.4 years and 85.7% female. Six professionals presented burnout (7.8%; all nurses). Nurses presented the highest prevalence of high emotional exhaustion (EE), compared to physicians and MOs (58.3%, 50.0% and 20.0%, respectively; p=0.035). There were no statistically significant differences between the three professions regarding depersonalization or personal accomplishment. Overall, nurses appear to be at higher risk, although larger sample sizes would be desirable to confirm these results.
Conclusions: This study provides a preliminary overview of the psychological status in perioperative healthcare professionals, suggesting some groups more susceptible to burnout and confirming the emotional and physical demands of these professions.

Burnout in perioperative healthcare professionals – a cross-sectional study in one Portuguese Hospital