The article presents the data of modern foreign studies on occupational stress and burnout among medical workers. It gives an analysis of modern scientific discussions concerning the concept of burnout and the search for criteria for its differentiation from other similar psychoemotional and physiological states. Special emphasis is placed on data on the extremely high risk of professional burnout among emergency medical workers. Recent studies of the level of burnout among physicians are presented as containing the information about increase of these indicators in the modern healthcare system in different countries. The analysis of the latest data on extremely serious consequences of burnout for the mental and physical health of physicians is also introduced. A review of modern diagnostic methods, as well as professional, psychological, organizational and social factors of a steady increase in the level of professional burnout, including continuous intensification of work and the introduction of new electronic systems for maintaining medical records, is given. The necessity of developing and implementing methods for the prevention of professional burnout in modern medicine is substantiated.