Burnout Among Internal Medicine Residents Working at the Tertiary Care Hospital, Karachi

Yumna  Iqba; M.Omer  Sultan; Inam  Khan; Muhammed  Muneeb; Mahnoor  Jamal; Asfa  Ahmed

doi:10.54112/bcsrj.v6i6.2005

Authors

Yumna Iqba Department of Internal Medicine, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Karachi, Pakistan
M.Omer Sultan Department of Internal Medicine, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Karachi, Pakistan
Inam Khan Department of Internal Medicine, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Karachi, Pakistan
Muhammed Muneeb Department of Internal Medicine, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Karachi, Pakistan
Mahnoor Jamal Department of Internal Medicine, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Karachi, Pakistan
Asfa Ahmed Department of Internal Medicine, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Karachi, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54112/bcsrj.v6i6.2005

Keywords:

Burnout, Professional; Tertiary Care Centers; Internal Medicine; Internship and Residency; Teaching Hospitals; Pakistan; Cross-Sectional Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Psychometrics; Depersonalization.

Abstract

Burnout among residents threatens care quality and training outcomes, yet programme-specific evidence for Internal Medicine in Pakistan remains limited. We estimated Maslach Burnout Inventory–Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) scores among Internal Medicine residents at a tertiary hospital in Karachi and examined variation across demographic strata. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of all eligible Internal Medicine residents. We scored MBI-HSS subscales—Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalisation (DP), and Personal Accomplishment (PA)—and a pre-specified total score from November 2024 till April 2025. We reported means with standard deviations (SD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) and compared Total MBI across age, gender, and marital status using two-sample tests (α=0.05). Results: Sixty-eight residents participated; most were aged 36–45 years (48/68, 70.6%), 37/68 (54.4%) were female, and 38/68 (55.9%) were unmarried. Mean (SD) scores were: EE 15.01 (4.31), DP 29.55 (8.19), PA 12.15 (6.47), and Total MBI 56.64 (2.78); corresponding 95% CIs were EE 13.97–16.05, DP 27.57–31.53, PA 10.58–13.72, and Total 55.97–57.31. The Total MBI clustered tightly, whereas DP and PA showed wider dispersion. Total MBI did not differ by age (25–35 vs 36–45: 56.90 [2.48] vs 56.54 [2.92]; p=0.13), gender (male vs female: 56.12 [2.90] vs 57.08 [2.64]; p=0.53), or marital status (married vs unmarried: 56.66 [2.72] vs 56.63 [2.87]; p=0.68). Conclusion: Internal Medicine residents demonstrated a narrowly distributed overall burnout burden with marked heterogeneity in depersonalisation and personal accomplishment. Demographic characteristics did not meaningfully differentiate Total MBI, underscoring the need to focus on modifiable programme and system factors. These findings support subscale-focused monitoring and pragmatic reforms: protecting sleep, smoothing workload, and strengthening feedback and recognition. They also motivate prospective studies that measure duty hours, sleep opportunity, rotation intensity, and financial strain.

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