Objective: This research aims to reveal the mental fatigue experiences of resident physicians while practicing their profession.

Material and Method: The study was carried out with the phenomenology design, which is considered within the scope of qualitative research. Participants were reached using the homogeneous sampling technique, which is one of the purposive sampling techniques. In this context, in-depth interviews were conducted using semi-structured forms with 10 resident physicians continuing their residency training in Turkey. The data obtained by transcribing the interviews were subjected to interpretive phenomenological analysis. The data obtained were coded and gathered under themes to make the phenomenon of mental fatigue meaningful.

Results: In this study, which examines the mental fatigue experienced by assistant physicians while performing their profession as a whole, it has been determined that the causes of mental fatigue are related to working life, academic life, professional life, psychological, systemic and physiological reasons. At the same time, it has been determined that the mental fatigue experienced by assistant physicians causes some individual consequences such as stress, anxiety, focusing problems, and burnout, and some social consequences such as social adaptation problems, negative effects on the patient, and difficulty in the diagnosis process.

Conclusion: This study, which reveals the causes and consequences of mental fatigue experienced by resident physicians, has concluded that this situation not only has individual consequences on the physician but also causes some social consequences such as difficulty in the diagnosis process, social adaptation problem and the negative effects of this situation on the patients. To minimize this effect, it is recommended to clarify the job description of resident physicians, reduce the patient burden by shortening long working hours, and make necessary legal and systemic regulations on the subject.

Mental fatigue Physician Resident physician Graduate medical education Qualitative study