Burnout is a professional psychological chronic stress-induced syndrome defined by three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment. It concerns all professions especially healthcare staff.

A cross-sectional study conducted among medical residents working in hospitals located in Tunis. Three instruments are used: an anonymous self administered questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to assess burnout, Abstract Beck Depression Inventory to evaluate the intensity of depression. Severe burnout was defined as a severely high level of both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization associated with a severely low level of personal accomplishment.

A total of 149 résidents participated in the survey. 17,4% of participants had a severe Burnout. 42,26% reported a severely high score for emotional exhaustion, 46,92% reported a severely high score for depersonalization and 26,14% had a severely low score of personal accomplishment. Among stress factors significantly correlated to burnout: Lack of hobbies (p<0,001), bad job conditions (p=0,031), poor conditions of the workplace (p=0,046), relationship problems in workplace (p=0, 01), relationship problems with patient’s families (p=0,016), work-family conflicts (p<0,001) and far distance between home and hospital (p=0,026). Consequences of occupational stress associated with burnout: Antecedents of specialty change (p=0,017) and desire to specialty change (p<0,001).

Medical residents in all specialties are at risk of burnout. Nevertheless, it is shown that some specialties are more exhausting, which is consistent with the results reported in the literature. This syndrome deserves to be studied further in junior doctors to develop appropriate means of preventions.