[How to avoid burnout syndrome in a general surgical service].

Burnout syndrome may affect >50% of physicians and is characterized by feelings of emptiness and negative attitudes towards work and life. The work of surgeons presented some specific causal factors that determine that the physician (as a professional) can "burn out" and suffer from this disease with the consequent social/laborial impact, affecting also the rest of the surgical service. These may include external factors linked to the health organization or to internal factors that are directly dependent on the type of work performed by the hospital surgeon. This study analyzes these causal factors of burnout and offers some simple coping strategies in order to improve the health of professionals.