The aim of our study is the investigation of burn-out indexes in public mental health services employees (psychiatrists, psychologists, nursing staff, care providers) working with patients affected by Bipolar Disorder in order to correlate them with patients’ indexes of satisfaction about received treatment and care.

A sample of 20 employees of mental health services (psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses) and one consisting of 22 patients with a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder have been recruited at the Bipolar Disorders Unit of the Day Hospital of Psychiatry of the A. Gemelli Hospital in Rome. Operators have been submitted the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Emotional distress, Depersonalization, Personal satisfaction/achievement/fulfilment) while patients have been submitted the Questionnaire on Satisfaction of patient (QS)

By calculating the Spearman Correlation Coefficient the Depersonalization dimension proves highly correlated with the three subscales of QS: Doctor-Patient relationship quality (-.51); Information Quality and Doctor's therapeutic competence (-.48); Efficiency of service organization (-.58)

In our sample high levels of Depersonalization are correlated to a low satisfaction of patients. We therefore expect low levels of Depersonalization to be correlated with a higher satisfaction of the patient. Although it is not possible to generalize these results we can hypothesize that burn out negatively influences patients’ satisfaction.