Professional Burnout: A Study of Physician Assistant Educators

Purpose: The purposes of this study were (1) to measure the domains of professional burnout in PA educators as assessed by the Maslach Burnout Inventory, (2) to compare the results to those from investigations in higher education and medicine, and (3) to identify personal and occupational factors that may contribute to burnout — as a first step towards prevention. The study hypothesis was that less experienced faculty with heavy workloads and fewer resources would score higher on professional burnout indices. Methods: The Maslach Burnout Inventory (educator's survey) was sent to 969 PA educators. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, parametric analyses, and nonparametric analyses. Results: Twenty-two percent of the respondents scored high in emotional exhaustion, 13% lacked personal satisfaction, and 6% scored high in depersonalization of students. PA faculty burnout scores are slightly lower than those of their colleagues in medical schools and not significantly different from postsecondary education faculty in general universities. Administrative work positively correlated with burnout, while age negatively correlated with burnout. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary information about the level of burnout experienced by a representative sample of PA educators. The findings have implications for programs that wish to develop burnout prevention strategies and improve faculty retention strategies as well as for researchers who wish to study the issues related to faculty attrition.