Burnout syndrome in first to sixth-year medical students at a private university in the north of Mexico: descriptive cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: Burnout syndrome is a three-dimensional clinical syndrome caused by stress at work. It is frequent in professions which require direct contact with people. In Mexico, the presence of Burnout Syndrome in doctors and medical students, is characterized as a threat to their health, quality of life and professional performance.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the prevalence of burnout syndrome in students of years 1 through 6 of medical school at a private university in northern Mexico.

METHODS: Cross-sectional study in the Escuela de Medicina Campus Laguna de la Universidad Autónoma de Durango. The one-dimensional scale of Burnout Student (EUBE) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were applied to the participants. SPSS 19 was used to analyze the data.

RESULTS: Of the 344 students, 255 participated; 153 from years 1 to 3 (group 1); and 72 from years 4 to 6 (group 2). We found that 94.1% of the students of group 1 had mild burnout syndrome, and 2.8% had moderate burnout syndrome. In Group 2, 27.8% had moderate burnout syndrome, and 8.3% had severe burnout syndrome. The prevalence of severe burnout syndrome was higher in group 2 than in group 1 (p=0.02).

CONCLUSIONS: Burnout syndrome affects medical students across all stages of their studies, and develops in a progressive way. In our study, external factors have no influence on the development of burnout syndrome.