Association of impostor phenomenon and burnout among Swiss residents and junior anaesthesiologists: results of a cross-sectional survey

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Abstract

Background

Imposter phenomenon (IP) can impact professional performance and has been described as a risk factor for burnout within healthcare workers. We hypothesize that IP and burnout are prevalent among Swiss anaesthesiology residents and junior anaesthesiologists, and that specific risk factors are significantly associated with these conditions.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional web-based survey of anaesthesiologists working in regions of Switzerland. The survey included demographic questions, the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS), and the Maslach Burnout Inventory for Medical Personnel (MBI-HSS-MP). Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to identify demographic variables predictive of IP and burnout and to examine the association between IP and burnout.

Results

A total of 318 people were eligible to participate. Of those, 136 (42.8%) participants completed the CIPS, and 127 (39.9%) completed the MBI-HSS-MP. Among CIPS respondents, 55% (75/136) identified as women, and 59% (80/136) were Swiss nationals. The prevalence of IP was 56% (76/136) and burnout was 10.2% (13/127). Women were more at risk of IP and burnout ( p = 0.037). Independent covariates associated with IP were woman gender ( p = 0.015) and Swiss nationality ( p = 0.023). Additionally, the presence of IP was correlated with an increased likelihood of burnout ( p = 0.04).

Conclusions

IP was correlated with the presence of burnout in anaesthesiologists in training. Additionally, IP affected more than half of the participants. Two risk factors were identified for IP: being a woman and a Swiss national. The rates of IP and its concerning association with burnout among resident and junior anaesthesiologists needs to be addressed.

Trial registration

NCT06097325, https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06097325

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12871-025-02957-8

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Most cited references 36

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Physician burnout: contributors, consequences and solutions

C P West, L Dyrbye, T. D. Shanafelt (2018)

Physician burnout, a work-related syndrome involving emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and a sense of reduced personal accomplishment, is prevalent internationally. Rates of burnout symptoms that have been associated with adverse effects on patients, the healthcare workforce, costs and physician health exceed 50% in studies of both physicians-in-training and practicing physicians. This problem represents a public health crisis with negative impacts on individual physicians, patients and healthcare organizations and systems. Drivers of this epidemic are largely rooted within healthcare organizations and systems and include excessive workloads, inefficient work processes, clerical burdens, work-home conflicts, lack of input or control for physicians with respect to issues affecting their work lives, organizational support structures and leadership culture. Individual physician-level factors also play a role, with higher rates of burnout commonly reported in female and younger physicians. Effective solutions align with these drivers. For example, organizational efforts such as locally developed practice modifications and increased support for clinical work have demonstrated benefits in reducing burnout. Individually focused solutions such as mindfulness-based stress reduction and small-group programmes to promote community, connectedness and meaning have also been shown to be effective. Regardless of the specific approach taken, the problem of physician burnout is best addressed when viewed as a shared responsibility of both healthcare systems and individual physicians. Although our understanding of physician burnout has advanced considerably in recent years, many gaps in our knowledge remain. Longitudinal studies of burnout's effects and the impact of interventions on both burnout and its effects are needed, as are studies of effective solutions implemented in combination. For medicine to fulfil its mission for patients and for public health, all stakeholders in healthcare delivery must work together to develop and implement effective remedies for physician burnout.

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Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implications for psychiatry.

Christina Maslach, Michael Leiter (2016)

The experience of burnout has been the focus of much research during the past few decades. Measures have been developed, as have various theoretical models, and research studies from many countries have contributed to a better understanding of the causes and consequences of this occupationally-specific dysphoria. The majority of this work has focused on human service occupations, and particularly health care. Research on the burnout experience for psychiatrists mirrors much of the broader literature, in terms of both sources and outcomes of burnout. But it has also identified some of the unique stressors that mental health professionals face when they are dealing with especially difficult or violent clients. Current issues of particular relevance for psychiatry include the links between burnout and mental illness, the attempts to redefine burnout as simply exhaustion, and the relative dearth of evaluative research on potential interventions to treat and/or prevent burnout. Given that the treatment goal for burnout is usually to enable people to return to their job, and to be successful in their work, psychiatry could make an important contribution by identifying the treatment strategies that would be most effective in achieving that goal.

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Gender stereotypes and workplace bias

Madeline Heilman (2012)

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Author and article information

Contributors

Mia Gisselbaek: mia.gisselbaek@gmail.com

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Anesthesiol

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Anesthesiol

Title: BMC Anesthesiology

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1471-2253

Publication date (Electronic): 22 February 2025

Publication date PMC-release: 22 February 2025

Publication date Collection: 2025

Volume: 25

Electronic Location Identifier: 98

Affiliations

[1 ]Division of Anaesthesiology, Department of Anaesthesiology, Pharmacology, Intensive care, and Emergency medicine, Geneva University Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, ( https://ror.org/01swzsf04) Geneva, Switzerland

[2 ]Unit of Development and Research in Medical Education (UDREM), Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, ( https://ror.org/01swzsf04) Geneva, Switzerland

[3 ]Department of Anesthesiology, Helora, Mons, Belgium

[4 ]Department of Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Geneva University Hospitalsand, University of Geneva , ( https://ror.org/01swzsf04) Geneva, Switzerland

[5 ]Department of Anaesthesiology, Geneva University Hospitals, ( https://ror.org/01m1pv723) Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, Geneva, Switzerland

[6 ]Department of Surgery, Reasearch Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, University of Mons, ( https://ror.org/02qnnz951) Mons, Belgium

Article

Publisher ID: 2957

DOI: 10.1186/s12871-025-02957-8

PMC ID: 11846290

PubMed ID: 39987071

SO-VID: ccc103d5-6e49-4ad3-bb7c-d347fe4b2a89

License:

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

History

Date received : 9 October 2024

Date accepted : 10 February 2025

Funding

Funded by: University of Geneva

Open Access :

Open access funding provided by University of Geneva

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Anesthesiology & Pain management

Keywords: impostor phenomenon,impostor syndrome,burnout,education,anaesthesiology

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Anesthesiology & Pain management

Keywords: impostor phenomenon, impostor syndrome, burnout, education, anaesthesiology

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Association of impostor phenomenon and burnout among Swiss residents and junior anaesthesiologists: results of a cross-sectional survey

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Abstract

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Trial registration

Supplementary Information

Related collections

Irish Journal of Paramedicine

Most cited references 36

Physician burnout: contributors, consequences and solutions

Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implications for psychiatry.

Gender stereotypes and workplace bias

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