Physician Well-Being and Burnout: "The Correlation Between Duty Hours, Work-Life Balance, And Clinical Outcomes In Vascular Surgery Trainees".

Abstract

Background: Burnout among physicians—characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced sense of personal accomplishment—is common and linked to adverse clinician and patient outcomes. Vascular surgery training is associated with heavy workloads, frequent on-call duties, and high acuity cases, placing trainees at particular risk. This study synthesizes the literature and presents a cross-sectional analytic framework exploring associations among duty-hour exposure, work-life balance (WLB), burnout prevalence, and self-reported clinical outcomes (errors, near-misses) among vascular surgery trainees.

Methods: We performed a structured literature synthesis and present an empiric cross-sectional survey model (sample design, measures, and analysis plan) suitable for vascular surgery training programmes. Outcomes of interest include prevalence of burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory or validated single-item screen), duty-hour metrics (average hours/week, months with duty-hour violations), WLB measures (work-home conflict, satisfaction), and clinical outcomes (self-reported errors/near-misses attributable to fatigue). Statistical approaches include descriptive statistics, bivariate comparisons, logistic regression for burnout predictors, and negative-binomial regression for count outcomes (errors).

Results (synthesis + sample results): Literature shows nearly half of vascular trainees report burnout symptoms, and hours worked and work-home conflict are reproducible predictors of burnout. Systematic reviews in surgery document that hours/week is a significant predictor in many studies. Burnout correlates with increased self-reported medical errors and decreased patient safety. In a representative cross-sectional sample of 400 hypothetical trainees (described herein), burnout prevalence was 42%. Trainees reporting ≥3 months of duty-hour violations had ~3× the odds of burnout versus those with no violations; low WLB satisfaction conferred ~3.2× the odds. Burnout was associated with a near-doubling of self-reported errors/near-misses in adjusted models.

Conclusions: Duty-hours violations and poor work-life balance are strong, modifiable predictors of burnout among vascular surgery trainees and associate with an increased rate of self-reported clinical errors. Training programmes should prioritize actionable interventions (duty-hour compliance, schedule redesign, protected non-clinical time, mentorship, and culture change) to enhance trainee wellness and patient safety.