According to the result of a national study on burnout in the medical profession, neurosurgery and legal medicine specialists are the most affected, along with younger doctors.
The youngest doctors show the highest rates of burnout the study found, with symptoms including emotional exhaustion, detachment from patients and reduced job satisfaction.
Results from the study showed that along with emotional exhaustion, 39 percent of all doctors showed high levels of detachment and 30 percent had high rates of reduced job satisfaction.
The study, jointly organised by the Portuguese Medical Association and the Institute of Social Science of the University of Lisbon, surveyed around 10,000 Portuguese doctors, from around 50,000 doctors invited to take part.
The President of the Medical Association said he was surprised by the extent of the problem: “I was not expecting that the problem would be so serious, which requires us to look at this issue very carefully.”
José Manuel Silva noted that exhausted doctors are not in a position to provide the best care to patients, although “the survey showed a high level of effort and dedication to patients.”
“The truth is that Portuguese doctors are not well and this requires measures from the authorities,” said the President, calling for better working conditions, investment in maintaining facilities and renewal of technologies.
TPN/Lusa