Assessment of the Quality of Life of Brazilian Orthopedic Residents

ABSTRACT Introduction There are many determinants that compromise the health and quality of life of resident physicians. Knowledge about the residents’ quality of life subsidize actions to improve personal and professional quality of life of these individuals and thus ensure improvement in the quality of care provided to patients. Objective To evaluate the quality of life of Brazilian orthopedic residents and the factors that influence it. Method This is a descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative study conducted through a self-answered questionnaire to assess the quality of life of orthopedic residents in Brazil. The WHOQOL-abbreviated quality of life questionnaire and a demographic questionnaire were used. Results A total of 250 third-year orthopedic residents participated in this study. The variables that positively influenced the quality of life were: being well-organized for studying, studying 01 h or more per day, having access to the scientific database and speaking a foreign language, having a good quality of sleep, having a good evaluation of one’s residency and residency performance and having chosen one’s sub-specialty in orthopedic. It was also observed in this study that the residents were distributed in three groups with different quality of life degrees (with significant difference between them): Degree III > Degree II > Degree I. The individuals in the group of Degree three, who showed higher scores in all domains (71.7 to 81.1), mostly comprehends those who have already chosen the sub-specialty in orthopedic, have an excellent/good quality of sleep and evaluate their performance in the medical residency as good. Conclusion Orthopedic residents perceive their QoL as being good to excellent, but residents with poor sleep quality, those who have not chosen a subspecialty, who study less than an hour per day, have poor academic performance, and poor residency evaluation, have a worse perception of their QoL. These issues should be the targeted areas for specific interventions aiming to achieve a higher level of QoL.