Abstract
Background: The stressors and long hour internships could place a high burden on trainees, resulting in medical errors due to stress or fatigue. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of burnout and depression among medical interns at the King Abdulaziz University, and to determine the association between burnout and the number of medical errors committed.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey study was conducted on medical interns from King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia during the year of 2021. An online self-administered questionnaire was used composed of the following validated questionnaires: the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS) Version 21 and the Maslach Burnout Inventory.
Results: Majority of the participants (65.4%) were aged between 18 and 24 years, predominant were females (56.4%), 94.4% were single, and 91% lived with parents/guardians/relatives. Medical errors during internships were reported by 22.9% interns. Furthermore, 12.8% and 6.7% interns had mild and moderate depression, respectively. Most of them (19.6%) had moderate levels of anxiety and mild (6.1%) levels of stress; and 38% participants had burnout. The correlation between depression and anxiety levels and committing medical errors was non-significant (p = >0.05). In contrast, stress and burnout were significantly correlated with an increase in committing medical errors (p = <0.05). The Maslach Burnout Inventory scores and total DASS scores showed a significant positive correlation (r = 0.45, p-value = <0.001).
Conclusion: Physician burnout could lead to inattentive behavior, medical errors, and lead to malpractice, all of which reduce patient satisfaction and affect treatment quality and disease outcomes. Thus, burnout is a major concern among interns.

Key words: Depression; burnout; medical interns; impact; productivity