[Professional burn-out of general practitioners in urban areas: prevalence and determinants].

A telephone survey was carried out in 2007 to evaluate prevalence of burnout in private GPs in South-eastern France and its determinants. Doctors were selected at random, and this list was stratified according to gender, age and size of the place of practice. Burnout was evaluated with the French validated version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. 511 GPs participated (96,4%). The prevalence of the complete burnout syndrome was 1% (CI 95% [0,3-2,3]). Dealing with long working hours on a weekly basis and high-levels of mental strain, managing palliative care, unrealistic patients' expectations, work-home conflicts, having one's abilities questioned by patients, confronting judicial situations and legal cases or living with a partner, were all associated with one or several dimensions of burnout syndrome.