Introduction and purpose: “Burnout” denotes a state of psychical exhaustion caused by work-related chronic stress. It is characterized by fatigue, a feeling of helplessness and an a detached attitude to patients and co-workers. The purpose of this paper is to determine the prevalence of this syndrome among Spanish orthopaedic surgeons.

Materials and methods: A questionnaire was sent to 400 randomly-chosen Spanish orthopaedic surgeons, where they were asked to provide their personal details, to fill out the Maslach Burnout Inventory (which assesses emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and personal accomplishment) and to provide suggestions for improvement of their current burnout problem.

Results: 91 surgeons sent back their questionnaires. Mean age: 50 years (15–20 years’ seniority). Emotional exhaustion was high in 39.3% of cases, 54.8% had a high degree of depersonalization and personal achievement was rated as low by 22.6% of respondents. As regards ways to mitigate burnout, the most frequent suggestions were getting a better remuneration (66%), having fewer patients in their daily schedule (56%) having their personal prestige increased (47%). The values for the three burnout parameters were significantly higher for surgeons working only in public hospitals than for those working exclusively in the private system (p≤0.05)

Conclusions: Burnout levels among Spanish orthopedic surgeons are higher than those in other countries, especially as regards depersonalisation and emotional exhaustion. Prevalence of burnout is higher in the public than in the private sector. Changes should be made in the health-care system to both remedy and prevent this situation.