ICEM 2008 Scientific Abstract Program
Poster session 3: Neurology/psychiatry
122: Burnout in Emergency Medicine Residents and Faculty: An Attempt to Modify Stress Response by Journaling

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2008.01.090Get rights and content

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Background

Burnout is described as a triad of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low sense of personal achievement by Maslach, and has been previously studied in emergency physicians. Additionally, wellness of residents is now an officially monitored aspect of resident training.

Study Objectives

To evaluate the effect of journaling/reflecting after every emergency department (ED) shift on specific markers of stress and burnout: salivary cortisol levels and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) scores.

Methods

This randomized, controlled trial was conducted over a one month period in a university department of emergency medicine. Faculty and residents were randomly assigned to one of 3 groups (1 control, 2 interventions). All participants completed pre and post-month MBIs and salivary cortisol levels. The 2 intervention groups also made entries into a personal journal after each shift worked with one group completing directed journaling, reflecting on specific issues, while the other group completed

Results

Eighteen physicians participated (6 per group) with similar baseline outcomes between groups except for higher MBI emotional exhaustion scores in the control group. There were no significant changes in either salivary cortisol levels or MBI scores between groups over time (all p >.05). Participants reporting a negative journaling experience had higher depersonalization scores at baseline, but this difference was not significant (p = .09).

Conclusions

Journaling after every ED shift did not affect the level of burnout in ED physicians in this pilot study. Future studies should examine the characteristics that predict a positive journaling experience.

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