Burnout Syndrome in Family Physicians – Experiences from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The burnout syndrome is a response to a long term chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors that are related to workplace. It emerges as the consequence of non-harmonized relations between employees on one, and working environment on the other side. It is defined as chronic work stress that includes three dimensions: the sense of the emotional exhaustion, the negative approach to providing services (depersonalization) and the sense of reduced personal accomplishment. It occurs most often in persons who work in direct contact with other people. Medicine is one of the professions at the greatest risk of suffering from burnout syndrome. The results of the studies conducted in the neighbouring countries, in Europe and in the world showed a big prevalence of burnout syndrome among medical workers, especially in physicians. The acquired results indicate that there is a need to undertake measures for prevention of the burnout syndrome.