Impact of Burnout and Sleep Deprivation on the Clinical Performance of Neurology Residents: A Cross-Sectional Country Wide Study

Authors

• Bandar N. Aljafen, Department of Medicine (Neurology Unit), College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaFollow
• Walaa S. Alkhamis, College of Medicine, Dar Alullom University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Rahmah M. Alsawad, College of Medicine, Dar Alullom University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Israa B. Alhamoud, College of Medicine, Dar Alullom University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Zahra B. Alamer, College of Medicine, Dar Alullom University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Waad A. Alshanqiti, College of Medicine, Dar Alullom University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Rawan M. Alenez, College of Medicine, Dar Alullom University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: To assess burnout (BU) and sleep deprivation (SD) among neurology residents and their impact on clinical performance (CP). This study is based on a neurology residents from Saudi Arabia.

Methods: This multi-centric, cross-sectional study invited 214 registered neurology residents in the country; 179 participated in the study. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Medical Council of Canada’s Physicians’ Self-Assessment Questionnaire (PSAQ) were used to evaluate burnout (BU) and sleep deprivation (SD) among neurology residents and their impact on clinical performance (CP).

Results: Of the total 214 registered neurology residents, 179 participated in the study. About 50% reported irregularity in daily meals, while >50% failed to exercise due to time constraints. More than 80% of residents had moderate-to-high levels of emotional exhaustion (EE) and depersonalisation (DP), and 90% had low personal accomplishment (PA). The global PSQI score of 9.3 resulted from mediocre sleep quality, poor sleep duration, high sleep latency and daytime dysfunction. Moreover, 83.2% of residents complained of SD and opined that it affects their mental capability at work. Regarding residents’ CP, 49.44% were high performers, while the proportion of low performers was marginally higher at 50.56%. The rampant prevalence of moderate-to-high EE and DP and poor PSQI scores had a significantly negative correlation with residents’ CP (p= 0.0168, 0.0011 and 0.0441, respectively), CP correlated positively with PA levels (p=0.0045).

Conclusion: Moderate to high levels of BU prevail among neurology residents in Saudi Arabia. A high number of neurology residents suffer from sleep disturbances. Both BU and SD exert a detrimental impact on neurology residents’ CP, which adversely affects the quality of neurological care delivered by the burned-out and sleep-deprived residents.

Article Type

Original Study

First Page

26

Last Page

33

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Recommended Citation

Aljafen, Bandar N.; Alkhamis, Walaa S.; Alsawad, Rahmah M.; Alhamoud, Israa B.; Alamer, Zahra B.; Alshanqiti, Waad A.; and Alenez, Rawan M. (2026) "Impact of Burnout and Sleep Deprivation on the Clinical Performance of Neurology Residents: A Cross-Sectional Country Wide Study," Neurosciences: Vol. 31: Iss. 1, Article 4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17712/1658-3183.1003