Introduction:

Emotional exhaustion among students can have an impact on their academic and personal development.

Objective:

To describe the characteristics of emotional exhaustion in dental students.

Material and Methods:

A prospective, cross-sectional study was designed. It included 139 students of the Faculty of Dentistry of the National University of San Marcos, Lima. Peru. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey was used, which evaluated the exhaustion and depersonalization (cynicism) dimensions, as well as personal achievement.

Results:

An average score of 49.75 ± 9.57 was found; being higher in the students of the last year (55.09 ± 9.08). The value of emotional exhaustion was 16.78 ± 7.62, the one of depersonalization was 10.19 ± 4.49, and the values of personal achievements were 22.78 ± 4.9. Regarding the total score of the survey and the emotional exhaustion, the fifth-year students showed significant differences in regard to other years. In relation to cynicism, the third year students showed significant differences over the fifth and second years.

Conclusions:

According to the scores found, the level of emotional exhaustion is moderate in dental students and this increases as the years of study progress and becomes more acute in the transition from theoretical-practical courses to courses and clinical demands of patient care.

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