BACKGROUND: Burnout is a common syndrome seen in healthcare workers, particularly physicians who are exposed to a high level of stress at work. Therefore, this study assessed the level of burnout and its associated factors among physicians working in public hospitals of Southern Ethiopia. METHODS: Institution based cross–sectional study was conducted using structured self-administered questionnaire from March 13 to April 11, 2017. Maslach’s Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey was used to measure burnout level of physicians. Data were entered in to Epi Data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 21 software. Descriptive statistics, bi-variate and multivariable linear regression analysis were performed. P-value less than 0.05 was used to determine association between independent and dependent variables.RESULT: Burnout level was measured in three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment with mean scores of 27.2, 12.93 and 25.06, respectively. Age, receiving recognition from hospital managers andmonthly salarywere negatively associated; and number of patients observed per week was positively associated withemotional exhaustion. Age, working in primary hospital, having support from family and organization, monthly salary and professional training were negatively associated with depersonalization. Monthly salary was positively associated and working in primary hospital was negatively associated with personal accomplishment. CONCLUSION: Burnout was found in a high level among physicians in this study. Receiving recognition from hospital managers, age, working in primary hospital, monthly salary, having support from family and organization, professional training and the number of patients observed per week can possibly affect the level of burnout.KEYWORDS: Burnout, Physicians, Public Hospitals, Southern Ethiopia