Screening for burn-out in Australian medical students undertaking a rural clinical placement

Objective To investigate Australian medical student burn-out during rural clinical placement. Second, to examine the association between perceived burn-out and rural career intent at the time of finishing their rural placement.Design, settings and participants The 2016 Federation of Rural Australian...

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Main Authors: Vivian Isaac, Craig S McLachlan, Lucie Walters, Jennene Greenhill
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2019-07-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/7/e029029.full
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author Vivian Isaac
Craig S McLachlan
Lucie Walters
Jennene Greenhill
author_facet Vivian Isaac
Craig S McLachlan
Lucie Walters
Jennene Greenhill
author_sort Vivian Isaac
collection DOAJ
description Objective To investigate Australian medical student burn-out during rural clinical placement. Second, to examine the association between perceived burn-out and rural career intent at the time of finishing their rural placement.Design, settings and participants The 2016 Federation of Rural Australian Medical Educators evaluation survey is a cross-sectional study of medical students from 17 Australian universities. Specifically, those medical students who completed a full academic year or more at a Rural Clinical School (RCS). Responses from 638 medical students from regional Australia were analysed in the study of all eligible 756 medical students (response rate 84.3%).Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary objective was to determine self-reported burn-out (emotional exhaustion) in rural placements for medical students. Secondary outcome measures were designed to explore interactions with rural practice self-efficacy and rural intentions. Logistic regression models explored factors associated with burn-out.Results 26.5% of students reported experiencing burn-out during a rural placement. Factors associated with burn-out were female gender, rural origin, low preference for RCS, stress in the year prior to a rural clinical placement, perceived social isolation during rural placement and lower rural practice self-efficacy. Burn-out was not associated with rural career intentions. Social isolation and low rural self-efficacy were independently associated with burn-out during rural placement and together explained 10% of variance in burn-out (Model Nagelkerke R2=0.23).Conclusion Burn-out during rural placement may be a consequence of stress prior to a medical school placement. Social isolation and rural self-efficacy are amendable factors to mitigate medical student burn-out during rural placements.
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spelling doaj-art-2d016159e3354b7c9b1e257ade52c26d2025-08-20T02:48:53ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552019-07-019710.1136/bmjopen-2019-029029Screening for burn-out in Australian medical students undertaking a rural clinical placementVivian Isaac0Craig S McLachlan1Lucie Walters2Jennene Greenhill31 Flinders Rural Health South Australia, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Renmark, South Australia, Australia2 School of Health, Torrens University Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia4 Rural Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia1 Flinders Rural Health South Australia, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Renmark, South Australia, AustraliaObjective To investigate Australian medical student burn-out during rural clinical placement. Second, to examine the association between perceived burn-out and rural career intent at the time of finishing their rural placement.Design, settings and participants The 2016 Federation of Rural Australian Medical Educators evaluation survey is a cross-sectional study of medical students from 17 Australian universities. Specifically, those medical students who completed a full academic year or more at a Rural Clinical School (RCS). Responses from 638 medical students from regional Australia were analysed in the study of all eligible 756 medical students (response rate 84.3%).Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary objective was to determine self-reported burn-out (emotional exhaustion) in rural placements for medical students. Secondary outcome measures were designed to explore interactions with rural practice self-efficacy and rural intentions. Logistic regression models explored factors associated with burn-out.Results 26.5% of students reported experiencing burn-out during a rural placement. Factors associated with burn-out were female gender, rural origin, low preference for RCS, stress in the year prior to a rural clinical placement, perceived social isolation during rural placement and lower rural practice self-efficacy. Burn-out was not associated with rural career intentions. Social isolation and low rural self-efficacy were independently associated with burn-out during rural placement and together explained 10% of variance in burn-out (Model Nagelkerke R2=0.23).Conclusion Burn-out during rural placement may be a consequence of stress prior to a medical school placement. Social isolation and rural self-efficacy are amendable factors to mitigate medical student burn-out during rural placements.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/7/e029029.full
spellingShingle Vivian Isaac
Craig S McLachlan
Lucie Walters
Jennene Greenhill
Screening for burn-out in Australian medical students undertaking a rural clinical placement
BMJ Open
title Screening for burn-out in Australian medical students undertaking a rural clinical placement
title_full Screening for burn-out in Australian medical students undertaking a rural clinical placement
title_fullStr Screening for burn-out in Australian medical students undertaking a rural clinical placement
title_full_unstemmed Screening for burn-out in Australian medical students undertaking a rural clinical placement
title_short Screening for burn-out in Australian medical students undertaking a rural clinical placement
title_sort screening for burn out in australian medical students undertaking a rural clinical placement
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/7/e029029.full
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AT craigsmclachlan screeningforburnoutinaustralianmedicalstudentsundertakingaruralclinicalplacement
AT luciewalters screeningforburnoutinaustralianmedicalstudentsundertakingaruralclinicalplacement
AT jennenegreenhill screeningforburnoutinaustralianmedicalstudentsundertakingaruralclinicalplacement