Prevalence of burnout in medical students in Guatemala: Before and during Covid-19 pandemic comparison.
Roxanna Ruiz, Diego Asturias Fernandes, Allan Vásquez, Andrea Trigueros, Max Pemberton, Sam N Gnanapragasam, Julio Torales, Antonio Ventriglio, Dinesh Bhugra
Author Information
Roxanna Ruiz: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Diego Asturias Fernandes: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala City, Guatemala. ORCID
Allan Vásquez: Department of Bioinformatics, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala City, Guatemala. ORCID
Andrea Trigueros: División de cabeza y cuello, Hospital General de México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.
Max Pemberton: Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
Sam N Gnanapragasam: South London and Maudsley Foundation NHS Trust, London, UK. ORCID
Julio Torales: National University Asuncion, San Lorenzo, Paraguay. ORCID
Antonio Ventriglio: University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy. ORCID
Dinesh Bhugra: Institute of Psychiatry, KCL, London, UK.
Burnout is a syndrome consisting of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion along with depersonalization and poor sense of personal accomplishment. Often related to work conditions. Several recent studies from around the world have shown high rates of burnout among medical students in different countries. In Guatemala City, we decided to assess levels of burnout in 2017 and then again in December 2020. In the first wave from one private medical school, we had a total of 159 respondents (response rate of 56.7%) and 132 (48.5%) in the second wave. Not surprisingly rates of burnout were higher during the pandemic even though response rate is lower. Surprisingly we found that rates of depersonalization had not increased, and levels of personal accomplishment had. These findings present a mixed picture of levels of burnout in Guatemala City. Further qualitative research is indicated to explore cultural differences in order to set up appropriate and suitable intervention strategies.
