Burnout in medical education: interventions from a co-creation process

Abstract Introduction The high prevalence of burnout in medical education indicates an urgent need to develop and implement effective interventions at both the individual and organisational levels. Currently, there is a shortage of studies that include perspectives from multiple stakeholders, such a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Anke Boone, Lutgart Braeckman, Nele Michels, Kris Van den Broeck, Hanne Kindermans, Ann Roex, Marie-Claire Lambrechts, Sofie Vandenbroeck, Annabel Bijnens, Sofie Van den Acker, Sofie Boghe, Charlotte Vanneck, Dirk Devroey, Lode Godderis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-02-01
Series:BMC Medical Education
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-025-06833-4
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850066950038749184
author Anke Boone
Lutgart Braeckman
Nele Michels
Kris Van den Broeck
Hanne Kindermans
Ann Roex
Marie-Claire Lambrechts
Sofie Vandenbroeck
Annabel Bijnens
Sofie Van den Acker
Sofie Boghe
Charlotte Vanneck
Dirk Devroey
Lode Godderis
author_facet Anke Boone
Lutgart Braeckman
Nele Michels
Kris Van den Broeck
Hanne Kindermans
Ann Roex
Marie-Claire Lambrechts
Sofie Vandenbroeck
Annabel Bijnens
Sofie Van den Acker
Sofie Boghe
Charlotte Vanneck
Dirk Devroey
Lode Godderis
author_sort Anke Boone
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Introduction The high prevalence of burnout in medical education indicates an urgent need to develop and implement effective interventions at both the individual and organisational levels. Currently, there is a shortage of studies that include perspectives from multiple stakeholders, such as medical students, trainees and university staff. Our objective is to identify and discuss interventions from various stakeholders using a bottom-up approach to guide future implementation. Methods A co-creation methodology was adopted, including workshops and a Delphi session, engaging 96 participants. The study included 12 workshops with medical students and trainees in Flanders (Belgium): first-year bachelor students (n = 12), first-year master students (n = 13), first-year General Practice (GP) trainees (n = 14) and first-year specialist trainees (n = 39). Additionally, one Delphi session was held with 18 other relevant stakeholders, including university staff. All workshops were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed using NVivo. Results Our results identified interventions to prevent and mitigate burnout among medical students and trainees. On the individual level, participants discussed personalized coaching, annual health assessments and training sessions. On the organisational level, a distinction was made between interventions intended for universities, and those for hospitals and GPs involved in medical training. Six interventions focused on preventing burnout in all contexts (i.e., onboarding programs); three were meant for universities only (i.e., pass-fail system), and six were tailored for hospitals and GPs (i.e., flexibility in scheduling). Conclusion Through an iterative multistakeholder co-creation process, this study identified interventions to prevent and mitigate burnout within medical education. These interventions span individual and organisational levels, targeting universities, hospitals and GPs. While organisational interventions are increasingly recognized as crucial to address burnout, individual-focused interventions remain predominant in current research. There is a pressing need to further investigate organisational interventions and their combination with individual-focused strategies.
format Article
id doaj-art-c88a18ab295a417ca5e4de00ce5cb12c
institution DOAJ
issn 1472-6920
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher BMC
record_format Article
series BMC Medical Education
spelling doaj-art-c88a18ab295a417ca5e4de00ce5cb12c2025-08-20T02:48:33ZengBMCBMC Medical Education1472-69202025-02-0125111210.1186/s12909-025-06833-4Burnout in medical education: interventions from a co-creation processAnke Boone0Lutgart Braeckman1Nele Michels2Kris Van den Broeck3Hanne Kindermans4Ann Roex5Marie-Claire Lambrechts6Sofie Vandenbroeck7Annabel Bijnens8Sofie Van den Acker9Sofie Boghe10Charlotte Vanneck11Dirk Devroey12Lode Godderis13Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of LeuvenDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Family Medicine and Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of AntwerpDepartment of Family Medicine and Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of AntwerpFaculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt UniversityDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vrije Universiteit BrusselCentre for Environment and Health, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of LeuvenCentre for Environment and Health, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of LeuvenFaculty of Medicine, University of AntwerpFaculty of Medicine, KU LeuvenFaculty of Medicine, University of AntwerpFaculty of Medicine, KU LeuvenDepartment of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vrije Universiteit BrusselCentre for Environment and Health, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of LeuvenAbstract Introduction The high prevalence of burnout in medical education indicates an urgent need to develop and implement effective interventions at both the individual and organisational levels. Currently, there is a shortage of studies that include perspectives from multiple stakeholders, such as medical students, trainees and university staff. Our objective is to identify and discuss interventions from various stakeholders using a bottom-up approach to guide future implementation. Methods A co-creation methodology was adopted, including workshops and a Delphi session, engaging 96 participants. The study included 12 workshops with medical students and trainees in Flanders (Belgium): first-year bachelor students (n = 12), first-year master students (n = 13), first-year General Practice (GP) trainees (n = 14) and first-year specialist trainees (n = 39). Additionally, one Delphi session was held with 18 other relevant stakeholders, including university staff. All workshops were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed using NVivo. Results Our results identified interventions to prevent and mitigate burnout among medical students and trainees. On the individual level, participants discussed personalized coaching, annual health assessments and training sessions. On the organisational level, a distinction was made between interventions intended for universities, and those for hospitals and GPs involved in medical training. Six interventions focused on preventing burnout in all contexts (i.e., onboarding programs); three were meant for universities only (i.e., pass-fail system), and six were tailored for hospitals and GPs (i.e., flexibility in scheduling). Conclusion Through an iterative multistakeholder co-creation process, this study identified interventions to prevent and mitigate burnout within medical education. These interventions span individual and organisational levels, targeting universities, hospitals and GPs. While organisational interventions are increasingly recognized as crucial to address burnout, individual-focused interventions remain predominant in current research. There is a pressing need to further investigate organisational interventions and their combination with individual-focused strategies.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-025-06833-4
spellingShingle Anke Boone
Lutgart Braeckman
Nele Michels
Kris Van den Broeck
Hanne Kindermans
Ann Roex
Marie-Claire Lambrechts
Sofie Vandenbroeck
Annabel Bijnens
Sofie Van den Acker
Sofie Boghe
Charlotte Vanneck
Dirk Devroey
Lode Godderis
Burnout in medical education: interventions from a co-creation process
BMC Medical Education
title Burnout in medical education: interventions from a co-creation process
title_full Burnout in medical education: interventions from a co-creation process
title_fullStr Burnout in medical education: interventions from a co-creation process
title_full_unstemmed Burnout in medical education: interventions from a co-creation process
title_short Burnout in medical education: interventions from a co-creation process
title_sort burnout in medical education interventions from a co creation process
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-025-06833-4
work_keys_str_mv AT ankeboone burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT lutgartbraeckman burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT nelemichels burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT krisvandenbroeck burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT hannekindermans burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT annroex burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT marieclairelambrechts burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT sofievandenbroeck burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT annabelbijnens burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT sofievandenacker burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT sofieboghe burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT charlottevanneck burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT dirkdevroey burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess
AT lodegodderis burnoutinmedicaleducationinterventionsfromacocreationprocess