Diving into the Burnout Spectrum: A Study of Burnout Among Healthcare Students of Punjab, Pakistan.

Abstract

Background: Healthcare students experience multiple stressors, including heavy workloads, early exposure to illness and death, and financial pressures. These stressors can contribute to negative outcomes such as substance misuse, reduced empathy, suicidal ideation, and burnout.

Methods: The study was quantitative , cross sectional in nature, using a modified Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). The study was done from September to October 2024, with participants from 66 institutes across Punjab. The sampling technique was convenience sampling. The questionnaire was circulated online and in-person by the authors and then the data were analysed using SPSS version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) and chi-square test was applied.

Results: The study included a total of 422 valid responses from healthcare students .The results show that gender, sector of institute, and residence have insignificant correlation with burnout (p>0.05), whereas, age groups, programs students are enrolled in, and years of study have significant correlation (p<0.05).

Conclusion: This study provides insight into the prevalence of burnout among Pakistani healthcare students and highlights how factors such as age, program, and year of study influence stress levels, offering a basis for targeted interventions and informing future research to develop strategies for prevention and support.