Objective:

to estimate the prevalence of burnout syndrome in physicians and nurses of accredited health centres for Specialized Health Training in Elda and Alicante-San Juan Health Areas.

Design:

Descriptive observational cross-sectional study.

Location:

a multicentre study performed by Primary Care professionals of two Health Departments in the Valencian Community.

Participants:

primary care healthcare professionals (physicians and nurses) from the Health Departments taking part.

Main measurements:

prevalence of burnout using the validated Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire and socio-demographic and work-related variables. A descriptive analysis of the qualitative variables was performed by calculating frequencies and comparison of proportions (Chi-square test) to analyze the association between them.

Results:

a total of 125 questionnaires were analyzed (response rate 54%). The prevalence of burnout was high: 56.8%, 39.2% and 36.0% revealed a high degree of emotional exhaustion (the most affected dimension), depersonalization and low personal fulfilment, respectively. The involvement of two subscales (moderate-severe burnout) was statistically significantly higher in medical professionals (P=0.002). No statistically significant association was observed between burnout and sociodemographic and work-related variables.

Conclusions:

the prevalence of burnout is high in primary care medical and nursing professionals.

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