2026 Southeastern Residency Conference

Background:
Burnout is a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress. This syndrome usually presents as emotional exhaustion, cynicism and depersonalization from work, and a reduced feeling of achievement. Pharmacy residents are at high risk of burnout due to long hours and increased workload. Due to limited published literature and small sample sizes, current knowledge regarding the presence of pharmacy resident burnout and contributing factors needs further investigation. This study looked at rates of pharmacy resident burnout in both current and recent PGY-1 and PGY-2 residents using the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI), as well as baseline demographics and other potential risk factors using additional non-validated survey questions based on prior literature.

Methods:
Surveys were distributed by email to pharmacy school programs and residency program directors requesting that current and past learners complete them. Surveys were also distributed to eligible participants during professional conferences and meetings throughout the fall of 2025. Pharmacy residents enrolled at an accredited institution during the 2024-2025 or 2025-2026 residency year were included. The primary outcome of this study was to determine the percentage of pharmacy residents that experienced burnout during residency. The OLBI was graded for its overall score on a scale of not burned out (<48) and burned out (≥48), and sub-score for exhaustion (<25 not exhausted; ≥25 exhausted) and disengagement (not disengaged <27; disengaged ≥27). Secondary outcomes included the percentage of pharmacy residents experiencing exhaustion, percentage of pharmacy residents experiencing disengagement, and factors contributing to burnout such as relationship status, having children, distance to family, hours spent on residency-related activities, hours of sleep, number of co-residents, and number of consecutive workdays before having at least 24 hours off. Respondents were asked about interventions offered by the residency program, including mental health resources, mental health days, mentorships, and schedule changes to determine if these interventions were helpful, and whether they would recommend completing a residency to students or would choose to complete a residency again.

Results:  
A total of 559 responses collected between September 2025 and February 2026 were included in the analysis. Seventy-seven respondents (13.77%) were considered burned out using a set cut-off of 48 or greater on the OLBI total score. Factors determined to be significantly associated with burnout included hours spent on residency-related activities, hours of sleep, and the number of consecutive workdays. Residents sleeping less than 6 hours per night were associated with higher burnout compared to those sleeping 7–8 hours or more (p <0.001). Exceeding 10 consecutive workdays was associated with higher burnout compared to 10 days or less (p <0.001). There was a positive association between burnout and hospital duty hours, with longer weekly hospital duty hours associated with higher burnout (p < 0.001). Similarly, more hours spent on residency outside of hospital duty hours was associated with higher levels of burnout (p <0.001). According to respondents, mentorships and schedule changes had the highest impact on burnout. Respondents with higher burnout scores were more likely to not recommend completing a residency to students or pursue a residency again themselves (p <0.001).

Conclusion: Based on the study respondents, a majority of pharmacy residents were not burned out during residency. Although the OLBI is a validated scale to assess burnout in adults, the cut-off used to determine burnout in this study has not been validated. Results may also be skewed due to the timing of the survey delivery. Future studies should evaluate burnout at different times throughout the residency year. Hours of sleep, hospital duty hours, outside of hospital duty hours, and the number of consecutive days worked were all factors associated with higher burnout scores.