[Job burn-out].

This paper is concentrated on the issue of the professional burn-out, including the vocational group of physicians. It attempts to define this phenomenon, its reasons and symptoms. Three types of the burn-out sources have been established: individual, interpersonal and organisational. Negative and positive correlations between different aspects resulting from the professional and familiar environments are presented. The paper points to the consequences of the vocational burn-out that may occur in the physician-patient relationship. Three stages of this issue are shown, basing on the directions made by the American Psychology Association. Selected studies on medical staff in the Polish health care service have been analysed. The paper warns against the escalation of this problem in the medical community. It also brings up the most significant consequences of the professional burn-out syndrome, such as: low work quality, disturbances in the doctor-patient relation, resigning from vocational activity. Since this phenomenon is expanding in ever-widening circles, the European Forum of National Medical Associations has issued a declaration concerning the burn-out syndrome among physicians. The declaration urges international medical associations to face the increasing problem.