MEDICAL EDUCATION / PUBLIC HEALTH
The status quo of doctors’ occupational burnout and its correlation with the cognition of doctor-patient relationship tensity
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1
Kaifeng Central Hospital, China
2
Department of Oncology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, China
3
Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, China
4
The Third People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou, China
5
NanYang Central Hospital, China
6
Henan No.3 Provincial People’s Hospital, China
Submission date: 2019-09-20
Final revision date: 2020-06-23
Acceptance date: 2020-07-05
Online publication date: 2021-04-15
Publication date: 2026-05-12
Corresponding author
Ling Lan
Henan Provincial People’s Hospital
People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University
China
Arch Med Sci 2026;22(2):655-662
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
The aims of the study were to understand the status quo of doctors’ occupational burnout and analyze the correlation between occupational burnout and cognition of tensity of the doctor-patient relationship (DPR).
Material and methods:
We took 265 doctors in a general hospital in China as respondents, conducted a survey of the degree of occupational burnout with the Maslach Burnout Inventory, scored the cognitive quantification of DPR tensity with Difficult Doctor-Patient Relationship Questionnaire-8, and analyzed the correlation between them. The cognitive quantitative scores of DPR tensity were also given to 782 inpatients and compared with the doctors’ cognitive scores.
Results:
The degrees of occupational burnout in doctors, including three dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and sense of personal achievement, were high. The proportions of moderate or more burnout were 50.9%, 53.2% and 48.7%, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in occupational burnout among doctors of different ages and professional titles (p < 0.05). Doctors’ cognition of DPR tensity was significantly worse than patients’ cognition (p < 0.01). The degrees of emotional exhaustion and dehumanization were positively correlated with the poor cognition of DPR tensity in doctors (p < 0.001). The degree of sense of personal achievement was negatively correlated with the poor cognition in doctors (p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
Doctors’ age and professional title are important factors that affect the high degree of occupational burnout. Doctors do not have positive cognition of DPR tensity, which is different from that of patients. The degree of occupational burnout is closely related to the poor cognition of DPR tensity in doctors.
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