Medical residents (postgraduate trainees in a medical specialty) fulfil an important role in the Dutch health care system. They take their share of the responsibility for efficient patient care in hospitals, mental health care centres, rehabilitation centres and other medical institutions. Medical residents see the period of postgraduate training as a phase in which finding a balance between training, work and private life plays an important part. Not much was known about the extent to which the stress felt by residents causes them to develop symptoms of burnout. It was also unknown which factors determine the actual development of burnout. The research which was carried out therefore revolved around the incidence of burnout among medical residents in the Netherlands. It also looked into the potential risk-heightening or risk-lowering effects of a number of demographic and work-related factors. The aims of the studies were the following:

• to determine the prevalence of burnout among medical residents;
• to study the effect of individual and work-related factors on burnout;
• to examine the relationship between burnout and the quality of care.

In order to answer the research questions, two cross-sectional studies were carried out. The first study involved medical residents at University Medical Centre Groningen; the second all 5245 medical residents in the Netherlands.