Introduction

Burnout syndrome, defined as an emotional reaction in response to chronic job stress, is constituted by three central axes: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and lack of personal fulfilment. It affects both institutions and employees significantly, particularly those related to medicine.

Strenuous working hours, high academic expectations and emotional demands are constant during the medical internship; hence the students enrolled in the fifth year become vulnerable to develop burnout. Therefore, it is of interest conduct studies to identify this syndrome, as well as its components to improve working conditions and implement preventive measures to ensure a better quality of service to the patient.

Objective

To determine the prevalence of burnout syndrome in medical undergraduates enrolled in the fifth year (MUE) in the Dr. Eduardo Liceaga General Hospital of Mexico, and determine the associated risk factors.

Method

A cross-sectional, observational and descriptive study was conducted on 141 MUE from the Dr. Eduardo Liceaga General Hospital of Mexico using the Maslach Burnout Inventory survey to determine the prevalence of burnout and analyse its relationship with associated factors using the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.

Results

The whole population had some degree of work exhaustion, and 16% met criteria for burnout. A statistically significant relationship was found between burnout and two factors: transport time home-hospital (ρ = -0203, P = .016) and university of origin (ρ = -0184 P = .029).

Conclusions

In response to the results, it is suggested to make an evaluation at the beginning of the medical internship to identify risk population, change in the role of the rotation, give the day off after the night shift in high-demand services, and psychological support if necessary.