“Diagnosing” burnout among healthcare professionals: Can we find consensus?

Burnout is an established phenomenon across cultures and occupations. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is the most commonly used measure of burnout. The MBI delineates burnout according to three components (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment) and provides the opportunity to assign a classification of burnout. However, the criteria of what constitutes burnout and/or low, medium or high burnout varies considerably. In the following paper, we have systematically reviewed studies of healthcare professionals that specifically “diagnose” burnout. Results indicate multiple approaches to assigning different levels of burnout. The need for a consensus on how to classify different degrees of burnout is discussed.