Prevalence of Fatigue among Anesthesia Trainees in Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Introduction: Fatigue is a common problem faced by health care professionals all over the world due to long working hours, but it is more prevalent among anesthesiologists, especially among trainees, adversely affecting the quality of health care and resulting in more complications in patients; it also hurts the mental and social health of trainee anesthesiologists. Materials and Methods: A Cross-sectional study was carried out in hospitals in Sindh that offer FCPS (Fellow of College of Physicians and Surgeons) and MCPS (Member of College of Physicians and Surgeons) training in anesthesia. Results: A total of 98 anesthesiologists were enrolled in this study. Out of which, 59(60.2%) were females. The median (IQR) age was 28(27-30). 56(57.1%) were getting trained in private institutes. The majority of them were in the first year and third year of residency, 29(29.6%) and 24(24.5%), respectively. No association was found between age, gender, institute of training, and year of residency and fatigue status [p=0.456, p=0.116, p=0.506, p=0.505]. While as expected fatigue participants reported more subjective feeling of fatigue, less concentration, less motivation, and less physical activity in comparison to non-fatigue participants (40.1±8 vs 24.6±8; p=0.000, 22.5±4 vs 14.2±5; p=0.000, 17.3±5 vs 9.3±4; p=0.000, 13.7±4 vs 8.2±4; p=0.000respectively). Conclusion: The majority of anesthesia trainees turned out to be fatigued in training institutes of Sindh, resulting in less concentration, less motivation, and less physical activity; hence, we believe that trainees must be provided with better resting facilities during on-call hours to improve the quality of health care in our institutes.