Authors say that interventions to reduce burnout must extend beyond the individual level
TUESDAY, Sept. 1, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Workplace climate is the factor most associated with burnout in nurses, according to a study published Sept. 1 in the American Journal of Critical Care.
Lakshmana Swamy, M.D., from the Boston Medical Center, and colleagues evaluated the frequency of burnout and individual and organizational characteristics associated with burnout among critical care nurses across a national integrated health care system using data from an annual survey. Analysis included responses to the 2017 survey from 2,352 critical care nurses from 94 sites.
The researchers found that one-third of nurses reported burnout, which varied significantly across sites. Workplace climate was the strongest predictor of burnout (odds ratio [OR], 2.20), but other significant variables included overall hospital quality (OR, 1.44), urban location (OR, 1.93), and nurse tenure (OR, 2.11). The workplace climate subthemes of perceptions of workload and staffing, supervisors and senior leadership, culture of teamwork, and patient experience were each significantly associated with burnout.
"Drivers of burnout are varied, yet interventions frequently target only the individual," the authors write.
Abstract/Full Text