The prevalence of work-related burnout among neurosurgeons in Saudi Arabia: A multicenter cross-sectional study

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of work-related burnout among neurosurgeons at multiple neurosurgical centers in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken involving neurosurgeons in Saudi Arabia. From June 2023, to September 2023, a self-administered questionnaire was utilized to gather data from the neurosurgeons in Riyadh hospitals. This data pertained to their quality of life, exhaustion, frustration, and patient-doctor relationships.

Results: Out of 120 potential participants, 95 completed responses were collected, yielding a response rate of 79.2%. A significant positive correlation was revealed by correlation analyses between on-call hours and weekly working hours on one side, and burnout and poor quality of life on the other. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) revealed four components with eigenvalues greater than 1, accounting for 32.6%, 16.9%, 11.1%, and 7.8% of the total variance. The overall Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure was 0.77, falling into the ‘middling’ category, with individual KMO measures ranging between 0.6 and 0.9.

Conclusion: The study revealed a job-related impairment of the work tolerance among neurosurgeons in Riyadh, which may be due to the limited number of neurosurgeons. Further measures are required to enhance the quality of life for neurosurgeons and, ultimately, patient care.