Assessing Burnout in Medical Students in Clerkship Years in United Arab Emirates

Burnout, Professional Clinical Trial

Official title:

Assessing the Frequency of Burnout Syndrome Among Medical Students in United Arab Emirates University and Identifying Any Associated Factors

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05483335
• Other study ID #: UAEU_CMHS_IM_ERSC_2022_846
• Status: Recruiting
• Start date: September 28, 2022
• Est. completion date: June 2024

Study information

• Verified date: January 2024
• Source: United Arab Emirates University
• Contact: Adnan Agha
• Phone: +971-3-7673333
• Email: adnanagha[@]uaeu.ac.ae
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

Burnout Syndrome is a medical condition caused by long-term job-related strain and is defined by presence of either one or more of the three states i.e. emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of personal accomplishment. Burnout has been shown to cause decreased work output and mental well being of employees and increase errors at workplace. Burnout is observed in various lines of work and but has been found to be especially high among academic students undertaking professional studies as well as healthcare professionals. Medical students in their clerkship years undergo high stake exams, while adapting from classroom and simulation learning to participate in clinical care of patients in hospital care setting with no prior experience, which much them vulnerable to developing burnout during medical school. Burnout can effect medical students' well-being, which may continue into their internship and residency so greater emphasis in required on creating an awareness of burnout and identifying any factors associated to its development.

Description:

Burnout syndrome can develop after a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal workplace stressors, and is defined by 3 dimensions - emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of personal accomplishment. Burnout syndrome can be prevalent in up to half the medical students and those studies have suggested poor mental health among them. Various external and internal factors may contribute to burnout in medical students and little is known about the impact and mechanism of these factors in developing burnout. Burnout can develop, persist or worsen in residency years and it has been found to frequent among Diabetes specialty residents in United Kingdom as well in Emirati medical residents. Burnout can affect overall wellbeing of medical students with health consequences as well as poor work engagement/ educational outcomes. To the best of authors knowledge no data exists on burnout in undergraduate medical students in clinical years (clerkship) in United Arab Emirates

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 132
• Est. completion date: June 2024
• Est. primary completion date: April 2024
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 40 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Medical students (5th and 6th year) of college of medicine and health sciences in United Arab Emirates University

2. Currently attending the college, not on sick leave or long-term absence.

3. Agreed to participate after Informed consent Exclusion Criteria: Self-reported presence of active mental health illness or current treatment.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Burnout, Professional
• Burnout, Psychological
• Burnout, Student
• Educational Problems
• Occupational Stress

Intervention

Other:
• No intervention but assessing for burnout syndrome in all group
Using Maslach Burnout inventory to assess the presence of burnout and a self reporting questionnaire to identify possible stressors or associations

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United Arab Emirates	Internal Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences	Al Ain	Abu Dhabi

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
United Arab Emirates University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United Arab Emirates, 

References & Publications (3)

Agha A, Basu A, Hanif W. Burnout in diabetes and endocrinology specialist registrars across England, Scotland and Wales in the pre-COVID era. Prim Care Diabetes. 2022 Aug;16(4):515-518. doi: 10.1016/j.pcd.2022.05.005. Epub 2022 Jun 3. — View Citation

Dyrbye LN, Thomas MR, Huntington JL, Lawson KL, Novotny PJ, Sloan JA, Shanafelt TD. Personal life events and medical student burnout: a multicenter study. Acad Med. 2006 Apr;81(4):374-84. doi: 10.1097/00001888-200604000-00010. — View Citation

Ishak W, Nikravesh R, Lederer S, Perry R, Ogunyemi D, Bernstein C. Burnout in medical students: a systematic review. Clin Teach. 2013 Aug;10(4):242-5. doi: 10.1111/tct.12014. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Assess the frequency of burnout syndrome in clerkship medical students (5th and 6th year of MD program) collected over 3 months period.	The purpose of this study is to estimate the frequency of burnout syndrome in medical students in the clinical years (fifth and sixth years in a 6-year MD programme) in College of Medicine and Health Sciences in United Arab Emirates University via validated tool from Mind Garden, Malasch Inventory for Burnout Syndrome, assessing all three subscales of burnout i.e Emotional Exhaustion (with cutoff score for high burnout >26; range 0-54 with higher scores meaning a worse outcome), Depersonalization (with cutoff score for high burnout >12; range 0-30 with higher scores meaning a worse outcome), and lack of personal accomplishment (with cutoff score for high burnout < 32; range 0-48 with higher scores meaning a better outcome)	cross-sectional with data collected over 3 months
Primary	Assess factors associated with presence of burnout syndrome in clerkship medical students (5th and 6th year of MD program) collected over 3 months period.	To identify factors associated with presence of burnout in medical students in the clinical years (fifth and sixth years in a 6-year MD programme) in College of Medicine and Health Sciences in United Arab Emirates University	cross-sectional with data collected over 3 months

External Links

•   The gold standard for burnout assessment. Maslach Burnout Inventory 4th Edition