Resident burnout in Taiwan Hospitals—and its relation to physician felt trust from patients

Background/purpose: This study hypothesized that low ‘felt trust’ from patients may induce resident burnout. The authors developed and validated a scale to measure physician felt trust from patients and surveyed residents in Taiwan to estimate the prevalence of burnout, and to verify the association between felt trust and burnout. Methods: Residents in Taiwan were surveyed between November 2015 and May 2016. The Chinese version occupational burnout inventory and the four-item ‘physician-felt-trust-from-patient’ (PFTFP) scale were used to measure burnout and physician felt trust. Generalized linear model with generalized estimating equation with burnout as the dependent variable was employed to estimate the association between physician felt trust and burnout while adjusting other potential confounders. Results: There were 1016 questionnaires returned (response rate 67.8%). The prevalence of personal burnout and client-related burnout were 44.0% and 14.8%. The PFTFP scale demonstrated adequate internal consistency (Chrobach's α 0.68) and favorable construct validity. Residents feeling less trusted from patients had significantly more burnout, especially client-related burnout, which showed a strong dose–response pattern. Residents having longer work hours or consecutive work hours and higher psychological job demands experienced more burnout, especially personal burnout. Residents with self-reported medical errors in recent 3 months had more client-related but not personal burnout. Conclusion: The prevalence of burnout among residents in Taiwan was high, especially personal burnout. The validity of the PFTFP scale is satisfactory. Strategies in improving wellbeing of residents shall not overlook the importance of positive social capital such as resident's feeling of patient trust.