Special Topic Burnout: Examining Health Professional Trainee Burnout: Lessons Learned Using Qualitative Inquiry to Elicit Rich Data

Background: Health professional (HP) trainee burnout is hard to capture. There are many validated quantitative tools to assess trainee burnout, but fewer qualitative methodological tools that can elicit rich and trustworthy qualitative data on HP trainee burnout. Objective: Report the process, results, and lessons learned while developing and pilot testing a qualitative tool to assess HP trainee experiences of burnout to complement quantitative tools. Methods: We developed a set of semi-structured interview questions to probe burnout for HP trainees which were refined using a Modified Delphi approach (n= 10 subject matter experts). We conducted pilot testing (n=43 interviews with n=14 trainees). Results: We present the results of pilot testing a novel qualitative tool to assess HP trainee experiences of burnout, consisting of 3 core questions and 3 follow-up probes that elicit data on key dimensions of HP trainee burnout for integration into a structured or semi-structured interview guide. Conclusion: We present results as lessons learned, which can support the further development of tools to articulate HP trainee perspectives in studying burnout, especially during health system transitions. Developing qualitative measurement tools designed to be used with well-validated established quantitative tools may be a complex process but is critical in efforts to mitigate HP trainee burnout.

Publication History

Received: 18 February 2025

Accepted after revision: 29 May 2025

Accepted Manuscript online:
02 June 2025