Burnout in Nursing Units Throughout the Hospital: No Longer Limited to Critical Care

Abstract

<p>Nursing burnout, which negatively affects the nurse's quality of life and the quality of care delivered to the patient, is a problem that has been associated with stresses inherent in the critical care environment. However, with continued changes in the health care system and as additional roles and stresses are added to nurses it appears that nursing burnout is expanding as well. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of burnout within one hospital. The proposed quantitative study will obtain demographic data identifying the characteristics of the nursing unit and will use the 16-item Maslach Burnout Inventory to assess burnout. Data will be collected over one month from all Registered Nurses (RNs) who sign an informed consent and who work as staff nurses directly involved in patient care throughout all units located in a 190-bed Midwest hospital. Data will be analyzed to determine if burnout is being experienced and whether the experience is mild, moderate, or severe. Additionally, the inventory will analyze the burnout in terms of the breakdown of three components associated with burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and cynicism. Comparisons will be made of the results throughout all of the units in the hospital, focusing on the percentage of nurses experiencing burnout, the degree of burnout being experienced, and the burnout components involved. In this research two hypotheses have been proposed. The first hypothesis is that burnout occurs in nurses in all units of a hospital. The second hypothesis is that units in a hospital providing critical care will have higher degrees of burnout in nurses than units not providing critical care. This research has implications for the care of nurses in the workplace. Future studies will focus on identifying interventions for the alleviation of nursing burnout specific to the hospital unit.</p><p>This presentation occurred at the Wright State University Campus-Wide Celebration of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities on April 16, 2010</p>